Herons, Hummers, and a Few Stragglers

The summer heat pattern has set in, so the porch-sitting tends to move to early morning and late afternoon. Still, the activity is still up, though the pond is way, way down.

Enjoy this week's offering.

This rare morning found the three herons that frequent our pond all up and at breakfast; upper left is the Great Blue, lower middle is the Green Heron, and upper right is the Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Only the Great Blue seems to take issue with my presence, the others just go about their business.

 This rainy morning the Great Blue and Yellow-crowned were sharing the pond. Both are quiet stalkers.

I think he may be getting used to me, as he seems to be a little less skittish.

 Great Blue

 Coiled for the strike!

 The Green Heron has similar fishing techniques, he's just a clucker and a squawker!

 And a strutter as well!

The Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Looks like somebody wrote on his forehead with a sharpie.

 Male and female House Finches at the office deck.

 The finch wars go on.

A large raccoon at pond's edge. Her three little ones trapsed down single file the other evening.

This fellow has set up shop in my neighborhood. I see him almost every morning now about two blocks down as I head for work. The Great Roadrunner.

 And the thistle wars go on as well. "There's no more room here!"

 Poor baby! Looks roasted, but in reality, just needs a little maturing! A young male Cardinal.

The thistle sock also provides a steady study of Goldfinch behavior.

A Carolina Chickadee close to my porch.

 We'll close with the hummers this week. This female is at the feeder on my office deck.

 The hummingbird activity has picked up at the office, so I've been trying to capture a little action in the afternoon light.

The Black-chinned Hummingbird flashed me some color.

And he's headed toward the feeder to ward off any interlopers!

 Show-down at the O.K. feeder. Who's gonna back off?

The red wasp slowly moved around to the other side and left.

 Caught this one at the feeder just off my porch.

 Jan's zinnias continue to attract.

 We've read that coneflowers compete with zinnias for hummer favorites. Now we need some coneflowers!

 Caught some symmetry by accident.

Glorious, that's all I've got to say about that!