Rainy Days at Thanksgiving

I heard on the radio this morning that this Thanksgiving Day is the first time in 20 years that it has rained on a Thanksgiving Day in Phoenix. How wonderful! Those of us who live in the Sonoran Desert relish the days when the weather is different. Today is no exception!

This was taken on Wednesday, Nov. 26 after the rain showers had moved to the east and the sun came out. I knew there would be a rainbow, but a double rainbow was unexpected! I hope you can see the faint second rainbow to the left of the visible one.It has rained most of the night and finally stopped early this morning. Now that the sun has come out once again, the rain drops on the palo verde tree look like diamonds! What a beautiful morning! I am so thankful I got to see this!

Musing on my backyard

As you know, I love my backyard space and the wildlife that lives there. Today I am going to share some pictures with you that I have taken over the past few days.

Monsoon rains come to the Sonoran Desert. Beginning last Thursday night, we have had a LOT of rain here. Since Sky Harbor Airport is the "official" site for Phoenix rainfall, their measurement for rain is at 3". Now that may not seem like a lot, but it is! Normally, the airport gets 3" for the entire monsoon season. This year's season has just begun! Here in Chandler, we have had at least 3 inches so far. Sunday afternoon there was a flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by the loudest crack of thunder I have heard in years! It must have stuck nearby. About 3 minutes later the sky opened up and poured rain for about 45 minutes! The sky was black!!This morning I saw this mama quail and three of her babies. They were out getting a morning snack among the lantana bushes. One of the little ones was hopping through the lantana and cannot be seen here. But the other two are visible and so cute! They are such fun to watch. If something frightens the little ones, they run for cover under mama's wings and she crouches down and spreads her wings slightly to cover them up. Precious!

This is a new batch of baby quail. The batch I photographed several weeks ago has dwindled down from 7 to just a few but they are much larger than these cuties.