nature

Do you know that when bees die they go to a flower to do it?  Look close:

I would have chosen this flower to die in too ;)

tiny fushias not too small even for a hummingbird?

maybe if I lean way over I won't have to move to get some lunch:

closed honeysuckle - can't get any nectar from those ones silly:

Snow Bird

How do these little guys not freeze to dea** - I just can't spell it out ;) - where do they sleep at night?  I hear hypothermia is common!

Just sitting pretty cute in the snow!

So stinkin precious

hummingbird

loving the close-up setting on my camera:

here's a photo for Whitney because she loves photography (and I send her my photo shoots - haha):

hum this

The hummingbirds are everywhere now and I have a little more time on my hands to take a few photos:

Depending on how the light hits his head is how much red shows:

 He chased off quite a few hummingbirds protecting 'his' nectar in a feeder close by:

He was sitting in our fruit tree - so I had a nice frame for these photos.

Same hummingbird in all photos.

Brrrrrr, but not too cold for a hummingbird

It's snowy & 20 degrees outside! The hummingbird nectar was frozen solid, but I replaced 4 feeders off and on yesterday so my little friend (who doesn't know how to migrate) wouldn't starve:

He let me get pretty close for a picture:

If you build it, they will come

. . . build a habitat that is ;) A cold and dying Fuchsia plant was finally noticed! Took about 1 month after I hung it up, but a hummingbird found me:And he sits in a tree around the corner from the feeder chirping his happiness:

While I am happy too, any chirping I did would get lost in translation ;)

Hummingbird in my Honey Suckle

Guess What? chicken butt

Nah, not really - but it is a hummingbird butt:

Still is oh so cuteness! LoL

Cuteness

The hummingbirds were gone for about 2 weeks, but that's a lot better than 5 or 6 months like it's supposed to be in Seattle ;) And now they're back, I am seeing more of a variety and it makes me smile =) This little guy has awesome coloring and because it's a hummingbird, it automatically qualifies for being VERY cute (only to me? hehe). It definitely is looking very happy - LoL

Same hummingbird, but it's sitting up straighter so it looks very different, so above picture with its feathers all ruffled and squatty looking is cuter:

And this woodpecker visits almost every day - loves the suet (of course so do the squirrels!), however, it will NOT let me take its picture, it flies away =( So here it is in our yard high, high up in the maple tree:
The doves are also back, loving the wild bird feeder (3 of them trying to sit on the feeder at the same time doesn't work so well as they are large birds! But they still attempt it) as well as the pilated woodpecker - he only visits about once a week though.

Hummingbird in Dec

This hummingbird's feathers reflected in the sun makes for a beautiful green:

Ruffling feathers and grooming:

If I wasn't zoomed in so far when I snapped this photo, I would have gotten the full head shot! But it was really cute how it was bent over so much!

I have to change out the nectar 2 times a day - it freezes SOLID and is oh so sad! Once I had the feeders in my house when one came looking for them, so I hurried and held it outside my door and it flew over and fed from it while I held the feeder in my hand - super fun =)

Two Little Hummingbirds Sittin in a Tree

Awwwwwww, I can't help myself - these little guys are so CUTE!!!

I have hummingbirds every day still - love it!! Do you love my new camera? I can take pictures from far, far away and they still look pretty decent:

No tricks needed here, they're fun to watch when they're just sitting around ;) I just want to cuddle one between my hands!

Wildlife

Don't try and play the childhood game 'freeze' with a squirrel, because the squirrel would win! This squirrel froze in place as I approached it - like it thought I wouldn't notice it - that makes me laugh =) I stood still for less than a minute and she continued on - she came over to our hose and took a nice long drink where it was dripping - smart animal . . . unless it's responsible for the drip in the first place ;) Doesn't that look like a nipple - I think she's a mama. If I knew where the nest was, I would capture (okay, kidnap) the baby for Jonathan - that would make him happy to have a squirrel as a pet - LoL
Awhile back, I was shooing away birds that I thought were pigeons from my bird feeders. About the 3rd time I saw them, I saw them fly into some trees. They always seemed to stay together in a pair - but then I heard them cooing. It dawned on me they were Doves, besides, why would pigeons be so far from the water? hehe I found that Dove's are easily startled, but I got a photo of one today.

Our state bird is the golden finch and we have lots visiting throughout the day, some are golden and some are bright yellow - once there was like 10 or more right on the feeder and it was cool - except they all flew away when I tried to get their photo ;)

I enjoy blue jays - although they are easily startled as well, they keep the crows away - gotta love that! I don't find them pesky at all. I feed them our old peanuts - they do eat from our bird feeders & take baths in our bird bath too. But this one scared all the finches away, guess it wanted some food too:

This woodpecker was a little skittish too, amazingly detailed:

I saved my favorite picture for last - we still have hummingbirds (I guess they start migrating around August 20th) and they love the flowers in our yard. It's super cute to watch them fluttering from each variety of flower. They get in our honeysuckle and it looks like the plant itself is moving.

Well, that was my day in a nutshell - between dishes and laundry, I just took a few photos. I suppose that's what mother's do, they constantly work and stop to reflect on those precious moments to enjoy the sweetness of their children's amazement . . . between the refereeing and exhausting moments - ha! Well, my kids weren't here today, so I found happiness in the wildlife in my own backyard =)

P.S. still jealous of the people who have hummingbirds land on their fingers! One day I'll find the time to learn that trick . . .

Hummingbird Video

Sweetie, remember all the days when you've asked what I did that day and my response was 'nothing really, it was pretty uneventful'?  

So, basically I am a bird watcher for a lot of the day instead of maybe cleaning, organizing or running all the errands I should . . . I try and get as close as I can to the birds (not just hummingbirds) and honestly, it's time consuming!  LoL  I admit, I have an addiction =)  Do I have to choose to 'recover' from it though?  ;)

Hummingbird

I love hummingbirds, in May & June they visited the feeders & flowers in our yard 5 or more times an hour. In July & August it was a rare thing to see one - maybe once or twice a week. Taking a photo of a hummingbird is tricky without a proper camera ;)

So cute and they make the cutest noises too!

We could spot a hummingbird as early as 6 am and just after 9 pm. We have 1 feeder that sits right on our window and we can watch them easily. It is hilarious to watch the males chase other males away if they tried to feed on the same flower or feeder. Hummingbirds do chase other small birds away too - but I did notice that hummingbirds are scared of bees!