Pics of the Day

Plenty of sunshine to light up the camera, and multiple butterflies posing. It was quite warm on the porch today.

 Blue Jays love the peanuts we spread around, and also appreciate the cool water in Jan's bird bath.

 Thrilled to see three different male Painted Buntings today.

 Hummingbirds have been very active in the garden and at the porch feeders.

Multiples sets of Sulfur, Gulf Fritillary and white butterflies today.

 The zinnias are always a draw for the hummers.

 As are the purple cone flowers.

 I really worked for this shot. They didn't want to share!

 Red glass feeder bathed this hummer in red light.

She was quite nervous, as there is a very aggressive male Black-chinned that comes from the other side of the feeder to fend others off.

Pics of the Day

When it's 100 on the porch, only a dedicated photog would hang out hoping for a capture of a hummer in the bright sunlight. But that's what we do!

 Not good lighting, but we still go for any shot possible of the Painted Bunting. Female Cardinal still photo-bombing!

 Once again back-lit, but a little closer. Never get enough of the Bunting.

 It's a Bunting, but most likely an immature male, still getting his colors on. Did I say immature male?

 Dusky-wing after the aging purple cone flower.

 Gulf Fritillary was in the garden all afternoon.

 Female Black-chinned at the zinnia in the garden.

 Too bad the camera can not adequately show the opalescent nature of the under wing panels of the Gulf Fritillary.

 Five minutes away from putting up the camera to do some fertilizing, and this hummer shows up at the new green antique bottle feeder in the garden. Made my day.

 Tasting the air.

God's glory revealed in His Creation.

Pics of the Day

Morning sunlight on the porch affords me some opportunities with the hummers, and the Red-bellied Woodpecker that has been visiting my yard feeders.

 Listen for his 'cluck-cluck' in the yard tree, and he'll be there. I put out suet cake for him, but he totally ignores it. Oh well, whatever works.

 Morning bright sunlight lets me crank the shutter speed way down, or is that up? Anyway, allowing me to freeze frame that wing action.

 Must be incoming!

 A rare pause to rest those busy wings.

And all of a sudden you realize that in your frame there is a very colorful fellow out there beyond. I think his disheveled look tells me he's still working on his grooming skills. Probably an adolescent!

Pics of the Day

It started out a pleasant Saturday morning on the porch, with blessings by the doubles. It ended up a scorcher, but that also means full sunlight on my favorite subjects. Enjoy the variety of our Saturday from the porch.

 Our first double blessing came with the twin fawns with Mom in the meadow beyond the pond.

 Surveying the scene, I realized the Red-shouldered Hawk was about 20 feet overhead, and I thought I heard him licking his chops as he gazed at the group below.

 Then a few clicks to the right and down, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron was at the edge of the pond, looking for his own breakfast.

 Not long after that appearance, the male Painted Bunting showed up at the old church feeder.

 As soon as I spied him, his twin was on the scene, and immediately came to the globe feeder closest to the porch.

 Needless to say, this caused quite a bit of excitement on the porch.

 And they took their sweet time, allowing me to shoot up all the capacity available on the photo chip.

 Later in the day, a female Black-chinned guarding the feeders.

 She spied my new location for the porch feeder, re-positioned to allow more direct light photos.

 There was a lot of hummer activity, and she was checking the overhead.

 We also doubled up on the butterflies today, with the Tiger Swallowtail joining the Gulf Fritillery enjoying the purple cone flowers and zinnias.

 This view shows that this guy was operating with quite a handicap, a large chunk of his lower right wing was missing.

 In spite of missing part of his wing, he seemed to navigate quite handily.

 A few parting shots at the end of the day; hummers going for all the offerings in the garden.

Closing out with our Black-chinned that has the perennial bad hair day. 

(Maybe he's a teen-ager!)