What a thrill to have not one, but two beautiful lovebirds visit our heart-shaped water garden. It is fairly rare to see lovebirds in the wild in Arizona. They have made several appearances and tend to always stay close together somewhere in the four pine trees that surround our water garden. They must live in the neighborhood.

On several occasions, when they were perched on a low branch, armed with camera in hand, I have been able to get within about 10 feet of them. I caught one of the lovebirds in the picture to the left resting just long enough to snap a picture.

My husband observed a brief commotion in the small stream beside the water garden recently. See the area below the green arrow in the picture. Upon a closer look he discovered one of them taking a morning splash. The lovebird flew away before he could get it in the picture. What a beautiful song they sing. Perhaps it's an omen. Lovebirds. Heart-shaped water garden. They just seem to go together.

UPDATE - July, 19, 2001:  Today I took the picture on the left of one of our lovebird visitors. He is getting much braver to allow me to get this close to him. His partner was perched several branches higher and they continue their chatting as I came closer and closer to snap his photo.

Recently I spotted about 12 to 15 lovebirds in our backyard pecking away at some sunflower seeds left outside our bedroom window.

UPDATE - December, 10, 2003:  Since our first sighting in August, 2000, a pair of lovebirds have showed up each year at about the same time. We assume they are the same ones.

Water Garden Slide Show - Part 1

Water Garden Slide Show - Part 2