Purple Collar

A hummingbird landed in my path as I was walking down the side of the levee into the bosque. He said: “Who is that parading past my perch”? I said, “It is only I a lowly paparazzo out for a walk to find wild willing subjects like you!” The hummer responded “Well here I am, get in your shots. I can’t wait all day.”

Note: I saved the images larger, so you can get a good view of the images by clicking on them.

“Hows this side? Do you like my purple collar?” he asked. “You are quite a handsome hombre! Your collar is lovely.” I answered.

Intermission: Here’s a Downy Woodpecker chick in a cottonwood waiting for Mama to bring him breakfast.

“How’s my profile?”

A closer view

The Birds & The Bees

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Baby Blue Grosbeak took his first flight out of the black bamboo and fluttered over to a sunflower. Daddy Blue Grosbeak hopped around near where baby had flown concerned about the paparazzo sneaking up on Baby Blue. Mama Blue Grosbeak fluttered around in the bamboo, but would not come out into the open. I got up close to Baby Blue, got some photos before he flew off into our giant Dr. Huey rose bush that made  his papa and mama very happy.

The temperatures on Saturday and Sunday were much cooler, only getting up to 80º F, so the birds and the bees were actively foraging on our abundance of plants that are either in bloom or going to seed.

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In The Heat, A Battle

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Laurie pointed out that there was a bluebird in the bamboo being attacked by a hummingbird — by the time I got outside with my camera, the bluebird was standing its ground atop the pear tree next to the bamboo. I did get one shot of the hummingbird confronting the bluebird.

So much for 105 @ 5:00. Our weather station reported a wind chill of 111º F (43.9º C) at 3:47 pm yesterday afternoon, about the time the birds were battling (see the last photo).

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