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!

Summer Abundance

The yard and office deck are overflowing with the abundance of bird activity. It is getting harder to get my real work done and keep up with all the photo ops! Do you feel my pain?

Enjoy this week's offering of summer abundance!

 And when I'm not preoccupied with the birds, the Swallow Tail comes floating into the yard and visits the lantana, offering a number of poses.

 It is fun being surprised by the power of the camera. When I'm taking this shot, I can't even see the detail that I get to see when it's on the screen.

God's glory revealed in His Creation! 

 The Titmouse at the office deck making off with a nut.

It's called 'ready to launch'.

A few House Finches have been visiting my yard.

The male and female Lesser Goldfinches remain faithful at the office deck, as long as the thistle feeder is full.

Don't know to what I owe this pose, but the White-winged Dove was putting on this display on my fence rail in the yard. What do ya think, Annette?

This morning an Inca Dove flew in and spent a little time grazing on my gravel walk.

The Red-shouldered Hawk has been very busy around the pond, but hard to catch on film, or on media, whatever! His call is unmistakable.

 This evening we had a bunch of felt down at the pond's edge.

You see three here, but there was a fourth. The water supply is getting low.

 If you look hard, you will see my most elusive visitor, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. His head is above the branch, body below.

It's blurry, but proof! Some call the Cuckoo the 'rain bird', claiming you hear his call when it's going to rain. This day two of them were flying all around the yard and pond. Even then it was still hard to get a shot.

The female Cardinal all puffed up and ready to bathe.

This fellow brought his catch with him, and proceeded to put him down and enjoy the seeds.

After a while he decided to mix up his meal, getting the seed and the worm going at the same time.

She's talkin' to somebody!

 The purple chin has been hard to come by this summer.

 The Black-chinned Hummingbird faithfully guarding the feeder.

 Now HE'S talkin' to somebody!

 I've been working to capture some of the feeder wars for the hummers.

 It's nice when they go take advantage of our floral offering.

They definitely like Jan's zinnias.

This young female Painted Bunting surprised me with her color patches.

 Here she is with mom at the feeder. They both have patches of color.

This Sunday morning the Painted Bunting came to church!

 Two males continue to visit us at the yard.

Caught in a little back light.

 This guy showed up at the office deck in the late afternoon sun. Dan almost had to revive me.

Like I say, God's glory revealed in His Creation!