The other day there were three different Hummingbirds at the feeder.  That little dark guy on the right thinks he owns this feeder so the other two had to be really sneaky to get to it without a fight.

This is the same dark fellow on a different day. He was sitting on his favorite branch guarding the feeder. Every time another Hummingbird would approach the feeder he would chase after them before returning to this same little branch.

As he turned his head the sunlight caught his feathers and they began to change colors.

A little more turning and a little more color.

A lot more turning and a lot more color… and a lot more blurry. Hmmmm…

With the warming temperatures there has been an increase in bird activity around the back yard. This beauty was busy building a nest in one of the palm trees.

This one must be a return visitor from last year. She knew the drill and sat on the wall waiting for me to take her picture.

This one remembers our routine also. She can’t wait for the mornings to get warm enough for our daily Breakfast with the Birds event.

I was out back yesterday and heard the happiest of birds singing. It wasn’t a song I remembered hearing out there so it got the better of my curiosity. It sounded like it was coming from my neighbor’s tree and after a little searching I saw his sitting high in the branches.Can you spot him?

There he is! I couldn’t see him very well either. I didn’t have a clue what type of bird he was. I raced inside for my camera and the telephoto lens. I figured that if I could just get a photo I’d be able to blow it up on the computer and actually see what he looks like.

Ah, that’s better. He looks like a Northern Mockingbird to me. Sometimes mockingbirds have a rather harsh song but this fellow must have been trying to woo a sweet young thing because his song was one of the prettiest I’ve heard.I hope he will stick around for a while. With the weather finally cooling I plan to spend more time outside enjoying the birds.

Not all birds are welcome visitors at the House of Stirfry. I’ve told you before about Recliner Man’s feelings for Pigeons. For any newcomers, let’s just say that he doesn’t like them much.

We’ve been feeling pretty good for a while now because we weren’t seeing more than one or two at a time, and never near our house. All that euphoria came to a screeching halt today when we looked out at the house across the street.

This is the lens that I use:

It’s a nice lens that gives good images but it isn’t overly powerful. You can see that some of my photos haven’t been as sharp as others, that’s because the birds were sitting in the orange tree, about twice as far away as the feeder.

I usually stay out there for close to half an hour. The birds start showing up within minutes of our arrival. Some of the birds are a bit nervous about Abbey and take longer to approach the feeder. The Hose Finches aren’t too concerned. We seem to have two types of hummingbirds. The Anna’s are afraid of Abbey and usually won’t go near the feeder unless she is over near my chair. The Ruby Throated ones are much bolder. They get about 2 1/2 feet away from her and just hover there telling her what for. Abbey doesn’t always stay under the bench. When the birds scold her she gets intimidated and sits next to me. When she is feeling bold she explores around the back yard, giving the more timid birds a chance to feed.

Recliner Man had a nice relaxing Father’s Day.

Our daughter called to talk with him and one of the things she told him is that I seem to be turning into an “old lady”. She has been watching my blog and she feels that I am spending too much time watching birds and posting their pictures.

I can’t quite figure out how she would come up with such an idea. Getting old and too many bird pictures? Nah.

It’s just that I haven’t been doing much but sticking around home. With gas prices so high I am becoming more of a homebody. As long as I am home I may as well keep Abbey happy by giving her a little patio time and as long as I am out there I may as well make use of my fancy new camera. And as long as I’m doing all that and have nothing else to share, I may as well share the bird photos with you. I’m not old, I’m just practical.

Hopefully my next post will be different. I’ve started working on some mermaid ATCs so hopefully I’ll have something finished soon.

While we were sitting on the patio this little hummer decided to swoop in and get a good look at Abbey. She spent a lot of time hovering low. I was really surprised that Abbey didn’t jump up and try to catch her. I guess it is true.. if you wave your “arms” around wildly you really will look intimidating to other animals. Still don’t think I’d rely on it if I ran into a bear one day.

After all that intimation it was time to sit a spell.

Next up was this little charmer at the feeder.

Look at that beautiful color! I hope to see more of this guy and get a better picture of his ruby colored throat.

That’s how our Father’s Day has started out. Recliner Man are getting off to a slow start today, still puttering around in our jammies. Later today our son will come over to spend some time with us and have dinner. Recliner Man had his choice of where to go for dinner and he chose staying home and having meatloaf. Can you believe that? Of all the options he picked an old standby like meatloaf. Oh well, whatever makes him happy. I gave him his gift a couple of weeks early this year. I bought him a Wii. He has been loving it and I imagine we will be enjoying it today when The Boy comes over.

What are you doing today to celebrate Father’s Day?

Where were you last night. (Yes, I know you are reading this and you know I’m talking to you) We missed you at the ATC swap. I guess this is a busy time of year because only 3 of us showed up for the swap, Yasu, Sharon and myself. Let’s all try to make it next month!

This House Sparrow has been a frequent almost visitor to my yard. I say almost because he keeps to the insides of my neighbor’s trees. I could see him moving around and could see his black face but I never got a real clear look at him to determine what type of bird he was. Yesterday was my lucky day and he actually sat still long enough for me to focus in on him.

Just after the cat discovered that she could jump over the fence I discovered that there are different birds in the front yard than there are in the back yard. I plan to spend some time out front in the next few day to see if I can get some different pictures to share.

And just in case you thought I had given up on taking photos of Abbey in favor of bird photos….

This charming fellow is a Verdin.

He stopped by for a visit this morning. I had my camera focused on the feeder because I had heard the high pitched chirp of a hummingbird and thought if I sat there motionless for a while I just might get a good picture. I was quite surprised when this beauty flew into view.

I was even more surprised when he bent his head over and took a drink like the House Finches do.

Clever little dudes, aren’t they?

No sooner did the Verdin fly off and I heard the familiar helicopter sound of a hummingbird flying near by. I just sat still and hoped he was heading for the feeder.

I looked in the bird book to try and figure out what type of hummingbird this is and my best guess is that it is a female Anna’s Hummingbird.

Abbey has been trying to outsmart the birds. They always see her laying near the chairs and start squawking at her. That really freaks her out and put a major crimp in her bird watching enjoyment.

Today she found a hiding spot by the wall and it worked out better for both of us.

I had some new visitors to the back yard this morning. There were two of these birds that swooped in.

They are bigger than my usual House Finches and have thicker beaks.

A search through my bird book and photos on the internet tell me that they are Abert’s Towhees.

What I read said that they have “one of the smallest total distributions of any U.S. birds species, the Abert’s Towhee is much sought after by birders who must travel to the desert Southwest to observe it.” How lucky am I to have just stepped outside and seen them?

They were very interested in Abbey. They kept flying closer to chirp at her and she kept slinking closer and closer to me. She loves to watch the birds but once they start to scold her she rushes for safety. She would much rather sit under the chair and make scary faces at the lizards.