by John Baldwin

This past weekend gave some good opportunities to regard our garden birds and insects close-up. A sunny afternoon brought a White Admiral Butterfly to our white flowering “Pom- Pom” bush (Hydrangea ). This was followed up the next drizzly day, by using our parked car as a bird watching “hide”. And what a treat that provided, along with my outside suspended bird feeders (2 Peanut, 2 Niger seed and a Hummingbird sugar feeder). I was, for over two hours, able to observe and photograph Hummingbirds, Downy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, North American Gold Finches, Rose Breasted Nuthatch, Baltimore Oriole, Mourning Dove, all either to-ing and fro-ing to the feeders, ground feeding, or just perched in the very nearby pine trees. The marauding wasps, at the sugar feeder, inadvertently gave great chances to catch the Hummingbird in flight. The wasps caused the Hummingbird to check itself in flight, so as to observe which access holes, to the sugar water, were vacant. This provided wonderful chances to catch them on camera, as they hovered for a split second, to decide which one was wasp free. The wasps even appear in some of the pictures! Can’t imagine the birds wanted to stick their tongue into a hole where a stinging beast might be, I certainly wouldn’t!

Once again, another wonderful experience to witness the lovely things that nature provides us, should we care to look for them. It is a pity that some of them will soon be departing for the journey south, in the not too distant future, so continue to enjoy them while you can.

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