Oh Margaret, the look on that cute little Warbler's face is priceless! Love the Evening Grosbeak too, such pretty colors!

We've had lots of Blue Jays around the past couple of days


Boat-tailed Grackle and a Mourning Dove

plantladylin said:Oh Margaret, the look on that cute little Warbler's face is priceless! Love the Evening Grosbeak too, such pretty colors!

I agree about that little warbler, made me smile when I saw the photo.

I love your Jays, they too are very pretty.

plantladylin said:Oh Margaret, the look on that cute little Warbler's face is priceless! Love the Evening Grosbeak too, such pretty colors!

She said what I was going to say! Warbler is adorable!

Yea, the House Wrens are back! Mr Wren has been singing up a storm today. I bet he has to get busy and put sticks in many of the houses to impress his lady. She seems to decide which house to actually finish the nest in.

Finally spotted an Indigo Bunting this week!

A little while ago I heard a bunch of Blue Jays screeching like crazy and figured a hawk was on the hunt. I didn't see a hawk but did spot a Great Crested Flycatcher and thought it was odd that a bunch of Jays would be yelling at a flycatcher because it's diet consists of insects, fruits and berries ... then suddenly a hawk came flying out of some shrubbery. I still haven't been able to get a shot of the hawk but did manage a couple of a Jay and a Flycatcher.

Blue Jay and .................................. Great Crested Flycatcher

Oh the flycatcher has his crest all up doesn't it? Neat catch!!

Thanks Claudia, I was glad to get a couple of pic's with his crest up!

A few photos from this afternoon

Blue Jays

Grackles

Brown Thrasher

Red-winged Blackbird, male .............. Red-winged Blackbird female ............ Northern Cardinal

Red-bellied Woodpecker, female

Juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker

There are so many juvenile birds around this time of year, sometimes I can hear the young ones cheeping amidst the dense foliage of the trees and shrubs and occasionally I get a peek at one but usually they are gone before I grab the camera. Every afternoon this week a female Red-bellied Woodpecker and a baby fly in; baby clings to the side of a tree while mom goes to the feeder to get it food. Yesterday I saw a young grackle flying and hopping after an adult with it's beak open and screaming to be fed. Young birds are so funny, even when they are to the stage where they feed themselves they still cry to have an adult feed them. This afternoon I looked out the kitchen window and noticed a young Blue Jay on the ground. At first I thought it was injured and I took a couple of photos through the window before going outside to get a closer look; when I got about two feet away it sat up and looked at me and then fluttered up to a tree branch and then over to a feeder where it perched awhile. It may very well have been getting ready to take a sand bath ... many birds do that to rid their feathers of mites.



Brown Thrasher hiding in a tree ........... Northern Mockingbird


Common Grackle ................................. Mourning Dove


Northern Cardinal's


And, for the first time this season I managed to get a photo of a Hummingbird

Wonderful photos Lin. We do not get Blue Jays in Tucson but do in the mountains that ring the town.

Cool Lin! The hummer still has a bit of it's tongue sticking out in that photo!!! Great "catch" on the Flycatcher with it's crest up. I know from seeing them around here they really don't put that crest up like that all that often so to catch it on film with the crest full up is amazing. Yup, that hawk apparently had everyone freaked out & on full alert.

Lin, good shots, that baby Jay is really cute!

Thanks ladies! I was out early this morning and spotted a couple of Green Herons on a power line. I always hear them before I see them ... they are very loud! The light wasn't great with the sun glaring but I managed to get a shot of one of them:

I always am amazed when I see them on power lines. They look so awkward. That is one that I see but have never gotten a photo of one.

Nice photos everyone! Such a welcome sight to see so many bird photos!

Lin - Nice shot of your female Ruby-throated hummingbird! She's a beauty. I have a special place in my heart for hummers. You are very lucky to have at least one currently. The last of my male ruby-throated hummers left the end of March.

Becky, some years we see them here for longer periods than other years. In 2013, I spotted the first hummingbird of the season in late March and they stayed through the end of August that year! I had tons of Pentas blooming early that year and then other things bloomed throughout spring and summer which seemed to attract them. The pagoda flowers which hummers love are just beginning to bloom now and a couple of hoya plants hanging in a tree have buds so maybe the little flying jewels will stop by once in awhile. I have two feeders out also which might help attract them. I love those little birds!

Lin - I had a female show up during the summer for a couple of years. I typically don't get hummers here in the Summer. But when I do, I know they are breeding females. Your female hummer is probably also breeding and raising young to be here during the Summer months. She may have come over from Mexico or somewhere further south. They are known to breed in some areas of Florida during the Spring/Summer season. I know she is appreciating your nectar flowers and possibly feeders. Keep those feeders cleaned and filled every 2 days in the heat of summer. The sugar water can spoil really quickly in this horrible Florida heat.

Wished I had a female. I haven't had a female since 2011. I had females here in Winter until 2012 when the adult males ran them off. Its only been adult male Ruby-throated hummers since with a visit by 1 Rufous female for a brief period of time. You are sooooo lucky!!!

Becky, it seems all I ever see are females. In the past four years I've only seen one male! Yes, with the heat here in Florida, the feeders must be cleaned often. We've had such high temps already this year that I am cleaning and refilling them daily!