Quiet time

The weather is perfect right now, and the muted sunlight tells us it is certainly fall. Temperatures are in the 70's and we live with the house open, day and night. After living here for a couple of years we both find that our blood has thinned, and especially right now, when the daytime temperatures are cooler we are "cold" inside wearing pants and t-shirts.

So, this afternoon I retreated to the porch to warm up in the sun. It is very quiet living here as we live at the end of a 1.5 mile spur that ends in a trail through mesquite brush. When a car goes by we look up and try to identify it, and if it is "strange" and not the neighbors', we are nosey enough to find out where it is going.

But it is not so quiet after I have just thrown out the afternoon meal to the birds. I wish I could attach a sound byte of the various birds. The backdrop is the gentle clucking of the flocks of Gambel and Scaled quail who visit us on their regular daily route. There are about 50 of them right now, mostly extended families that stay together throughout the winter. They scratch for seed and talk under their breath, with an occasional squeal when they perceive their territory has been invaded.

This afternoon I also heard, and saw, the roadrunner female as she scouted for insects. She is not afraid, and almost made it onto the porch. Interspersed with her bill clattering was the raucous noise of the cactus wren whose call sounds like she is chewing on a rubber band. We still have a couple of hummingbirds that come by regularly, arriving with the "varoom" when they fly up to the feeder and then the tsk,tsk, tsk, to keep any others at bay.

The curve billed thrasher got confused by my presence I think and flew into the window, but was not seriously hurt. It did take some time to sit right by me, checking me out with his or her orange eye. A number of song sparrows are arriving for winter, and the canyon towhee is always underfoot. I think because he is so LBB (little brown bird) and has no significant song, he distinguishes himself by being very friendly and tame. I find him in the chicken coop, when the only access is the chicken door and not panicking when I come in. We have gotten accustomed to yelling before we close the garage door or, now, the shop/shed door. I have locked a towhee in the potting bench before without any bad results, he just flew out the next morning.

And, when the quail have moved on and the other birds fall silent, there is still the noise of the buzzing insects and the flapping wings of the grass hoppers. Nope, it really is not quiet at all.