Well, it sure is a cutie!

Adorable!

Thank you. It is like this bird knowns exactly what he is doing to avoid us getting any decent shots. I just came in from herding the grasshoppers and avoiding upsetting the bees too much while going through my prairie patch to get that fellow on the camera, I think a few things flew up my clothing. I'll be squirmy for awhile. Next time I'll stick to our path.

Awww little wren booty is so cute!

From yesterday ...

Blue Jay in the Magnolia tree & Mockingbird at top of Cypress tree


Hummer heading to Firespike (out of focus through the window) and Egret fishing behind a neighbors house

SWEET!!!! Love the hummer photo, especially!

The last 2 mornings on our walk I have heard a peewee! The first one for this year. We usually have lots of peewee & phoebe around here. But had not seen or heard a one this year. I love hearing them when they arrive in the spring.

Those are all beautiful pictures, Lin. I saw an Egret fishing this morning too.

By some miracle I was out caterpillar hunting and the hummingbird didn't take me for a threat. Well, not at first. Do you guys ever hold your breath and think, "How am I supposed to raise my arms to take a picture and not scare the bird?" I was totally doing that. Here it is hitting up the firebush like it always does.





Now, no one gets to complain about the quality of their photos anymore! You guys are awesome so stop putting yourself down. You all are giving me a complex!

Love those shots!

I love those shots too Melanie! Last year and the year before it seems I could be outside and the hummers didn't seem to mind at all and would visit the feeders and flowers with me being a couple of feet away, snapping photos. This year they seem so skittish and all I have to do is move an inch and they are off! I took this picture yesterday afternoon ... can you see the hummer?

Yes! I can see it ... wings a blur!

I see it on the left middle edge of the photo.

This morning I saw the hummers at the zinnias, which would have made a nice picture if I even had my camera!

I see it!

Yep, those wings may be a blur but the eye and beak give it away! If you guys aren't "watching" the news article thread, I posted an interesting hummingbird article from Slate today. It had some info about the Aztecs and how they incorporated hummingbirds into their religion. It also had some cool trivia about hummers. Check out the thread here: The thread "Butterflies, Birds, and Bees News Articles" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

My camera started freezing up and again, beeping and giving a message saying "Lens Error" and shutting down automatically. My husband shipped it off to Canon this morning and I hope they will be able to repair it. We've owned only the Canon brand cameras in the 46 years we've been married and always loved them but I'm really getting discouraged with Canon with the last two PowerShot cameras we've had. If I remember correctly the older model (SX20IS) that I'm currently using had the same exact issues as the newer one (SX60HS). I'm using the old one for the time being and I'm having trouble with getting decent pic's; I'm sure it's something with the settings that I've messed up and I'm too technically challenged to figure it out without screwing up everything else. Anyway, a few birdies from my yard today ...

Blue Jay's


Northern Cardinal, male eating seeds from the Crepe Myrtle tree



Northern Cardinal, female

Lin, that would discourage me too, maybe it's time to try a new brand of camera.

Sorry to hear about your camera issues. I have the SX20IS. It has a few years on it now and it does at times have trouble focusing now. I still have my old Fuji if this one broke but it does not have near the zoom of the Canon. I would be lost!

Love the female cardinal shots!

No photo but I saw a cuckoo the other day! I could not see if it was a yellow billed or black billed.

Blue Jays were out in force this afternoon, some molting and look almost bald.got one ready to land on the suet feeder


Female Downy Woodpecker


Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a neighbors roof

I almost put out some suet today. Missing the jays here.