Nature Notes: Birds and the Bees

I have so many bees in my yard that some people find it rather frightening.

I have discovered that they are much more interested in the plants than me and totally ignore me as long as I don't accidentally step on them.

Wasps and yellow jackets are another story and those I avoid like the plague.

It's interesting how fat and plumped out the American Robin looks in the bath and how long and slender in the grass.

I wish I could photograph the many birds that burrow into the perennial grasses but they are too thoroughly hidden there.

I did manage to shoot the catbird feasting on blackberries even with the porcelain berry vines (ampelopsis brevipedunculata) available for cover. The ampelopsis brevipedunculata is what the bees in the first shots are busy with.

As you can see below some of the blackberries are ripe enough to eat.

I'm not sure if the reason I can see more black in the male cardinal below is because he's wet, immature, or it's the time of year.

Some of my yarrow is beginning to flower but the heat isn't doing it any good.

The mourning dove are very shy and I try to photograph them way back from my bedroom door so they don't get scared.

When my purple coneflower (echinacea) begins to flower I know summer has arrived. The petals haven't turned purple yet but they will.

The chickadee is getting ready to dive into my front yard water bath which is much prettier than the deck pot liners I use but harder to shoot the birds from. The good thing about the pot liners is they are cheap and I throw them away when they degrade and are too hard to clean. I swap them out for different ones when worn out.

The brown thrasher is so wet that it's interesting to me to see the mix of colors in the feathers which aren't noticeable when dry.

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