Yellow migrant

This yellow warbler stands out in the trees that are are already dropping leaves. I do not see yellow warblers in the summer nesting months, just around the migrating spring and fall times. The hummers love to chase around the yellow birds and I've noticed they like to chase yellow butterflys, too.

A Cardinal Questions

Looking like it is in a worrisome mood, this young bird may be pondering what is next.

Young male hummer

Here's a young male hummingbird resting on a tomato fence during the sparring I witnessed the other day. You can spot the individual jeweled feathers at the neck that give away the young bird as a male.

Hummingbirds in the Garden

It's chase and fight all day for the male hummers. I sat in my vegie garden and watched some tough battles. We let some salvia take over where the fall garden won't be planted and the hummers have really taken to the flowers. I also plant hummgingbird vine every year but those have yet to bud. The vine is great for migrating hummers as they pass through later in the fall.

Here's the resident mature male sampling the salvia.

One Lively Oak

One of my live oaks was alive with action this morning. I was chasing a warbler and found the young House Finch. Then a bunch of Carolina Wrens started screaming, some in my pecan tree and some in the oak.
I spotted this young wren: it was a new family of wrens making their way through, panic understood! Isn't this one too cute!
Next the Yellow warblers, who could not understand the commotion. They kept ducking and moving trying to figure out the wrath of the wrens.
Even the Hummingbird came over to check out the action and buzz the warblers. For a few minutes the tree was in turmoil and I was enthralled.

Secret Spot with Waterlilies

A Great Egret in the area of the causeway that I call the Secret Spot. Lots of cover give a big bird a feeling of safety from the roadway. The marsh grasses are picking up late summer colors which is a great contrast to the bright white of the Egret.

The Gleaners

Two Red-Winged Blackbirds glean the seeds from dried sunflower heads.

A feeling of Fall is on the wing. Many summer birds are gone, others are forming flocks. Seagulls are flying over. Hot is met with cool. There's a subtle feeling of change in the air with little signs that one learns over the years. Gleaning the clues of nature for the inevitable.

Gloriosa Success

Many years back my sister Rose brought me a single bulb packaged and labeled Gloriosa. She had picked it up in a remainder bin, which is how I have acquired many bulbs. All that potential laying there is so hard to pass by.

This one has stumped me for years, it grew a delicate stem of leaves about a foot high and stopped. Last year I left it in it's clay pot outside for the winter on the sheltered side of my vegie garden. That was the trick. The plant has climbed over four feet, each leaf has a tendril that wraps a nearby structure for support. The bloom is so delicate. Gloriosa!

Double duty

I love sunflowers. I have some super tall ones in my garden this year. They are so pretty and also serve the birds and bees and frogs in other ways. Here's one of the newer Cardinals that love to sample the seeds of a drying head. I have been questioned over putting flowers in the vegie garden, but I insist. I don't mind sharing a bit with the birds. Flowers brighten up the green space, attract the pollinators, and simplify some watering.