Birds on a hot summer day....

Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and spring,
for the air, the water, the verdure, and the song of birds.
(Carl von Linnaeus)
It really has been a busy last couple of weeks so sorry about the lack of posts. I have been spending all my spare time working on our new front landscape which should be finished today and then I'll give you a photo tour of the gardens. I haven't had much time to take out the camera but yesterday I spent a good part of it watering as it is very dry here. Between dragging sprinklers around I sat on the patio and enjoyed watching the birds. A pair of chipping sparrows alternated between chipping, eating and bathing, but the goldfinches just preferred singing and eating.
Then I noticed this little brown bird wanting to come to the rock for a drink but it was very shy. It would fly from shrub to flower near the rock and constantly look to see if I was moving.
I sat very still and finally it came to the rock.
It took a few sips of water and then a very quick bath...
constantly checking me out to see if I was moving or a threat.
Then it flew over to the trellis to do it's post bath grooming.
I thought I saw the slightest blue iridescence on it's wings....could it be??? Is this a female indigo bunting and they are still around, just not at my feeders? I have never seen one so this is just a guess comparing it to my bird book. If you know this bird, leave me a comment or email at the address on the left. It was an extremely shy bird and I feel lucky to have captured it with the camera.

On the previous post, troutbirder asked if those water lilies were hardy. Yes, they are - I just trim off the growth and sink them to the bottom of the pond and they are good until next spring.