Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Seeing Orange

An orange bird has been visiting our backyard lately. It looks like a typical house finch except his feathers are orange where a house finch's are usually red. I learned that orange is a color variation in house finches and yellow is too. This is the first male house finch I've observed with any color besides red in the 15 years I've lived in Tucson.

Seeing the orange house finch made me realize that besides him and an occasional oriole, orange colored birds aren't very common around here.
However, looking through my pictures, I noticed an abundance of the color orange in other forms. Just for fun, here are some orange or almost-orange subjects:
Animals
neighbor's dog, pet box turtle, horse at Sabino Canyon, our cat Billy

Plants
barrel cactus, red bird of paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)
globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)
, prickly pear cactus buds

Elements
Blackett's Ridge Sabino Canyon, a neighbor's clay roof, Sabino Creek, Sabino sunset

I hadn't thought about the color orange much until that little bird appeared. Now it seems as if I'm seeing orange everywhere!
Sunrise Drive at Sabino Canyon Road

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange."
~ Vincent Van Gogh


28 comments:

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Lots of orange, Diane... IF you come to Tennessee, your blood will be OrANGE (for the Tennessee Vols) It's Big Orange Country here!!!

I've never seen an orange house finch before either. NEAT!!! Thanks for sharing.

Hugs,
Betsy

Gaelyn said...

An interesting variation on the house finch. Great captures. And nice job on the oranges around you.

Kathie Brown said...

What a great post was sparked from one little orange bird! The first time I saw an orange or yellow house finch it threw me also. I sometimes see the orange ones here in Sycamore Canyon. What a lovely collage of photos you made up. Very artistic!

TR Ryan said...

What great shots. I never knew that house finches had an orange variation!

Phoenix C. said...

I love these photos, Diane! My favourite is the tiles - I like the contrasts of rhythms and the streaky white horizontal clouds in the background.

Love the Van Gogh quote. I've always had lots of orange in the garden because it's such a vibrant colour, especially when it kind of gradates to red. And it does look so spectacular with blue!

•°°• IcyBC •°°• said...

Great shots! I love all the photos of orange, and the finches especially!

Julie said...

My favorite color!!!!! Great images!!!!!

Kevin said...

What an excellent selection of images. Orange is everywhere!

Jen said...

Excellent! Orange fits right in with AZ!

I spotted my first orange finch this year in KY. I joked about the red ones and the gold finches getting together. ha.
Great post!!

Silver Fox said...

Beautiful, all the orange together! The orange house finch puzzled me when I first saw it years ago, and even now, I sometimes think I'm seeing a new bird. Those are great photos of the finches.

Annette said...

What a fun post and you do have some great photos! I've never seen an orange house finch before. I never knew they existed! I think everyone enjoyed your post... Orange you glad you wrote it? (Couldn't help myself)

Raph G. Neckmann said...

What a lovely celebration of my favourite colour, orange! I have really enjoyed this.

'There is no blue without yellow and without orange.' Oh, bliss!

Teri said...

Oh Diane, I so enjoyed looking at all these photos! Thank you!

Martha Z said...

You found lots of orange. I like your orange finch but your post makes me feel guilty. I've been neglecting the feeders so I'll right now and fill them.

deedee said...

It made me think about the colors I have around the outside of my house. Green, red, pink, blue, black, brown, white.... no orange. I'm going to have to "borrow" one of your birds :)

betchai said...

wow, all those birds coming to your backyard are just amazing, I am not sure if I have caught one house flinch too, as I am not very familiar with the birds names. But I also captured a bird in our backyard very similar to yours, but I have not seen really a lot of them like in the 3rd picture, that is really so cute!

Unknown said...

I never knew that about the little finches. I love all the orange you found! Color themes are so fun! Love the turtle!

Prospero said...

That little bird, with the orange is very pretty. I love the expression of the red-breasted bird in the second shot. Your horse shot and the whole elements series: fabulous. After viewing all your great pictures - I can safely say that I'm a fan of the color orange.

kesslerdee said...

What a fun post! I loved every picture- and the ending quote is great! That orange finch is cool- I'll have to watch mine a little closer but I am sure I've never seen anything but red ones.

Glynis Peters said...

What a lovely posting! I love the birds.

JRandSue said...

Hi Diane,enjoyed your Finch Images and your description. Great write up supported with great Photography.
Also thank you very much for your kind words on our Blog.
Happy Birding.
John.

Robin Easton said...

Your photos are always exceptional but this time they are extraordinary. I think it is the groupings which I love. You done them life works of art in themselves with the layout and color schemes. It is STUNNING!!! They are so luscious I want to eat them. You are very artistic both with good color sense and design. Simply some of your very best work!!! :D

positively present said...

WOW! This is a great post. My absolute favorite color is orange -- I have it EVERYWHERE in my apartment -- so I adored this post and especially Van Gogh's quote. Thanks so much for writing this and for posting the awesome orange pictures. I love the animals especially!

Aiyana said...

The birds are beautiful, as are all your other photos. Sabino Canyon is a great area. I've been there once, years ago. I'm in the Phoenix area, and wish we had some colorful birds here. Seems they are all brown and gray!
Aiyana

Lindy said...

A very eye-pleasing, educational post!

LisaNewton said...

I love your color choice. Orange, it's one of my favorites. If you're seeing a color over and over, which your great photos demostrate, life is good.............:)

yoon see said...

You are very observance. I love this entry"Seeing orange"
The birds, animals, senery, even the cycling teams are in orange.
What a creative orange day!
You rock Diane C!
Bye bye!

Carla said...

I love the photos - the colors are stunning.