Early Morning Snow

Snow fell in the night.

A visiting grandson wanted to play outside.

My camera came.  We all had a good time.

Waiting for Dinner

Birds waited patiently in the trees while we refilled the feeders this afternoon.

Timpanogos on a Fall Afternoon

After dropping grandsons back on campus after Sunday dinner, this was my view on the way home.

A Problem, and a Solution

I am not happy with the latest visitors to our hummingbird feeder.

Fortunately, we keep two feeders, and so far the yellow jackets don't bother this one.

While working on a lesson this morning, with the back door open, the sound of the hummingbirds beckoned me outside.

I don't want these little guys hindered when they eat.

We do have a solution, which seems to be helping.  We also knocked down a large nest a few nights ago, but it was in pouring rain, and my camera refused to go outside.

Fortunately, some of the things outside my back door need no maintenance at all.

Rufous is Still Here

I was working on my Sunday School lesson this morning.  The back door is open because I know I have a sprinkler issue and the sprinkler comes on for 60 seconds at 7:58.  But look who was there.

Action at the feeders can escape my attention with the door closed, but with the door open, it's surprising how much noise hummingbirds can make.

I took my camera outside with me to check the sprinkler.

This is a black-chinned hummingbird, the male, and perhaps because he was so revved up from dealing with the Rufous, he buzzed me!

She came over for a look, too.  I think in my pajamas I would make a non-threatening target, but gosh, I had to duck.

And there in front of my eyes was this guy!  If I didn't need to work on this lesson, I could have spent more time outside.

Mayhem at the Feeder

The hummingbirds made quite a disturbance at the feeder this morning.

My husband spotted a Rufous.  The one from last week had moved on, so this guy was new.

My company is gone, so I didn't have anyone to help me with the camera settings.

I did my best.

We have learned that the Rufous hummingbirds are very territorial.

This guy has chosen one of our feeders, and he won't let any other birds near it.

The sun was up, but not far enough.  I wanted to see his bright red neck.

This time I felt like my camera was cooperating, but it's hard to move that sun into place.

I don't think the birds are playing.  This guy is actually mean.

I took one last picture and then went inside for ten minutes.  Just ten minutes, is all.

When I stepped back outside, all was calm.

This is a black-chinned hummingbird.

The green bird is actually the female of that species.  Honest.  I looked it up.

So of course they let each other come and go without any problems.

I was holding still, looking through my camera.  I thought the bird on the right was the Rufous.

I was so surprised that they were peacefully sharing a meal.  Only when I looked at my photos did I realize the Rufous had left the scene.

Sometimes I don't feel like I have the time to watch the birds.  I'm glad I do it anyway.

Golden Roufus

My husband has been watching this Roufus for days.

He is very territorial and has been chasing the other hummingbirds from one of the feeders.

A son and his wife spent an hour with my camera this afternoon, capturing the drama.

This was amazing.

The Roufus is beautiful.

When chasing the other hummingbirds, we could hardly see him in flight.

We didn't see any birds actually get hurt.

I can say that I'm glad this guy wasn't going after me.

The other hummingbirds sit and drink to their heart's content at the other feeder, but not at this one.  They race in and race out.

On some of his passes by the feeder, our Roufus would grab a bite.

My daughter-in-law changed all the settings on my camera in order to take these pictures.

It was worth it.

The sun was perfect, too.

As a final gesture, Mr. Roufus stuck his tongue out at us.

A Study in Hummingbirds

I'm having one of those days.  You know what I mean.

A contractor is working on my AC, but he has the heat on.

I'm not asking questions.

I stepped outside for some cool air only to be bombarded by sawing from a neighbor's project.

The hummingbirds were undisturbed by any of this.

They were blissfully unaware of a sprinkler line that broke this morning, shooting water at high pressure under my front door into the house.

Until I found the source of the enormous noise the shooting water was making, I thought a monster was pounding at the door.

I have been working for years to get my camera to focus on the hummingbirds.

This morning, I focused on the hummingbirds.

I became oblivious to the noise from the saw.

The air around me became peaceful and calm.

For just a few moments, I was peaceful.

I should do this more often.

Definitely.