Today's Garden Visitors

[Mikey]

While sipping tea and listening to my morning fix of talk radio I had the following visitors to the garden. 

I get a kick out of the big fat bumble bees.  When they land on a flower their weight causes the flower to dip.  The first photo shows this fella cutting a notch at the base of the Salvia flower to get to the nectar and the second shows him on approach to another Salvia.



Hummingbirds are daily visitors.  They too really enjoy the Salvias.



The common Painted Lady butterfly is a regular also.


And lastly, I coax in Blue Jays by putting peanuts out for them. 

[JohnInFlorida]

Mike,

Great pics of the local fauna on your flora ... either you've always got the camera handy, or you are a very patient man...
Thanks for making me grin.

Keep Smilin'
John 

[Mikey]

While sipping my tea I sat there, camer in hand...    The Blue Jays are very stealthy when they fly in to snatch peanuts and you have to have the camera pre-focused because they snatch and run.  So I was lying-in-wait for the Blue Jay photo

[ladybug]

very superior pictures, good job
ladybug

[Esther]

Very refreshing Mikey.

[Indiana Karen]

Great pictures.  Your hummingbird looks a little on the chubby side

[Mikey]

Your hummingbird looks a little on the chubby side

I thought the same thing once I downloaded the photos to look at.    He didn't look tubby when I was looking at him through the camera.  Those flowers must be loaded with high octane sugar

[thedahlialama]

great pics Mike! almost inspires me to put some effort into getting that pic of the hummingbirds i keep wanting. i see them regularly but never with camera in hand.  earlier this year i was wearing a tie-dye shirt and one flew so close to my chest i had to step back because i feared he was going to try and sip me!! they have been especially fearless this summer. i've had lots of close encounters with them lately.

[barb]

What stunning pictures!  I am just in awe.  You have beautiful flowers, too.  And your Blue Jays are different than ours, I was unaware there was more than just the "standard" Blue Jay.  After seeing yours, ours look downright "common", .  We did have a whole family of "common" Blue Jays at our feeder yesterday, I guess mom was teaching the fledglings where to get some food.  The babies were lazy though, they just sat on the branches squawking with their mouths up and open, so mom/dad had to feed them.

What kind of camera do you have?  My 15 year old daughter is saving up for a good camera that will take good close-ups of wildlife and flowers.  She and I both have a Kodak Easyshare camera, which is nice but she needs something that will do better with close-ups.

[Mikey]

I'm glad y'all enjoyed the photos. 

Barb: We have two different kinds of Jays here in southern CA that I am aware of.  The Jay in the photo is actually a Scrub Jay.  Up in our local foothills and mountains there is the Steller's Jay which has a crest.  The camera is several years old, an Olympus C-740 Utra Zoom. 

[Teresa]

I love your hummer photos . . . you always have great ones.  Bluejays I can live without . . . they are loud, bossy and obnoxious.  We used to have dozens that nested in our yard . . . . then a couple of nice hawks moved in and it's quieter nowadays.