Watching the male Ruby-throated hummingbird in the backyard

 We were sitting outside and waiting for the hummingbird

 

 

In all these years, this is the first time the male Ruby-throated hummingbird has visited

 

Anya the Cardinal

 Today a cardinal came by for a few minutes, 

and said,

"Thank you for the sunflower seeds,

It's cold and I'm hungry.

But why do you humans fight with each other?

Don't you have enough seeds and water?

Please stay away from people who only feed themselves"

"Ok", said I, 

"you are beautiful and wise, can I take a photo of you and show my friends please?"

😍

 

Peace!

Squirrel having a Strawberry Snack

Looked out of the WFH office window now and saw  ...

My strawberry was gone!

 

No wonder in Europe, the Eastern Gray (or grey) squirrel is considered an invasive species

Even the birds need drinking water in mid winter

 

 

And a sparrow just joined in
 

The heavy rain briefly stopped and two thirsty hummingbirds appeared

 

This is the second one 

Love how the hummingbird spills some nectar while in flight

 

 Check out all the birds that visit the backyard

 

I used the Canon 60D with a Sigma 150-600 lens  

Here are the settings for these photos:

TV - Shutter priority
Shutter speed 1/8000
AI Servo AF

AF Point Selection Automatic selection 

(this works better than manual for the hummingbird)
Evaluative Metering
Drive Mode - High Speed Continuous
ISO - Auto

Goldfinches and a Nuthatch

 Female goldfinch arguing with the male

A nuthatch has joined the party 

 

 

And now the nuthatch is arguing with the male goldfinch

Spider web on the butterfly bush

 Also known as buddleia,

I plant flowers mostly for the bees, hummingbirds and butterflies

Of all the flowers in the backyard, this is the Monarch butterflies favourite

And mine too!

Compared to the Queen of Hearts which is more purple,

shown below

Prince Charming has more of a Raspberry colour!

And maybe that's why the spider likes it too!

The quick brown fox ran casually across our street

Saw this fox casually run across our street

We've seen coyotes before

But the last time we saw foxes around here was probably ten years ago!

So got the camera and went after it

Hope this was better than average fox news 😊

 

How to ensure that only the Blue Jay gets the peanuts

Loaded peanuts in the squirrelbuster bird feeder for the blue jay

 The sparrows cannot get to the sunflower seeds because the peanuts are in the way

The blue jay got all the peanuts!

That's it for today,

See you next time blue jay!