well rested...

"Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow."
(Douglas Pagels, These Are the Gifts I'd Like to Give to You)

We took a few days off to camp & cycle and just enjoy the long holiday weekend. It was a much needed rest and a chance to recharge as we enjoyed beautiful sunsets, explored wide open countryside and while we did not have to decide "which color to slide down on the rainbow" we did walk the yellow brick road.

The last two weeks I have been keeping an eye out for the annual monarch migration. This year, I have only had an occasional butterfly visit the backyard and I have read articles in the local paper that the whole state of MN is short on butterflies which the authors blame on our cold & wet spring.
Last night I finally noticed a dozen or so flitting about the garden so just before dark I took a walk around the property. The most I found roosting in a single tree were these 3.
This morning I again went out and walked around the whole yard and groves. All together I saw approximately 50 butterflies not the huge branches full of them as in years past.
I will continue my watch but either I missed the huge flocks while gone this weekend...
or the numbers of monarchs just aren't here as in years past.

8..9..10...counting robins

First there were 8...
then 9...
and 10! (This one is tricky as one is not on the rock)
Soon it was 11...
then 12
and finally 13!
This bunch was fun to watch! I think there were more like 15-20 of them but I only captured 13 on the rock at one time.

Bold little birds...

Freedom lies in being bold. (Robert Frost)
It has been very dry here and I spent most of yesterday watering gardens. While most of the birds stay away when I am out working in the garden, the hummingbirds, wrens and downy woodpeckers are anything but shy. Juvenille hummingbirds are busy staking out territories and chasing off other hummers and even wrens.
The downy woodpeckers have discovered a "taste for peanuts" and will come to the feeder even when I am standing right next to it.
The young house wrens still stay close to the nest boxes and are not afraid when I walk by. Their songs entertain me the while I work.

I'm thankful for these little visitors that help make my garden chores pass quickly.

Colorful birds...

My favorite weather is bird-chirping weather.
(Loire Hartwould)
I am really enjoying the colorful birds in the garden. Above, I took a photo of a yellow warbler and a female goldfinch for comparisons of size and color. Below, is the elusive indigo bunting. He only comes to drink and bathe when I am in the house so I have to settle for "through the window" shots of him & his lady.
This last shot just says August to me :-)

anything but a waste of time...

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.
(John Lubbock)
Though I didn't lie in the grass but rather sit very quietly in a lawn chair, I took the time yesterday morning and this morning to enjoy the life in my garden. There's a "mood" in the air that summer is almost over with the shorter days and fading blossoms. Even though I have tons of work to do, I decided to gift myself with the time to enjoy it a little while each day before it is gone.
This morning brought many orioles...mature, immature...Baltimore and
Orchard.
There were about a dozen robins...
eyeing my slightest movement.
This tiny and mostly gray bird whose ID I don't know by memory was the shyest of all. I managed to get off one shot in the shadows before he was quickly gone and didn't come back. Later, I will try to browse the bird books to come up with an ID from this photo, unless you know...leave me a comment.
Other life abounds in the garden, caterpillars on the queen anne's lace...
and dragonflys flitting about the pond.
I have to get to work now, but the short time I sat still, listening to the water sounds and the birds was "anything but a waste of time"!

Yellow Warblers...

"Back and forth across the garden the little yellow birds were flitting, dodging through currant and gooseberry bushes, hiding in the lilacs, swaying for an instant on swinging sprays of grape vines, and then flashing out across the garden beds like yellow sunbeams.
(Angus Gaines, Birds magazine, September 1897)

The migration must have started, the garden is full of little yellow warbers. These first three shots are the males...


and then a curious female...
checks me out...
before taking a bath.

"a little privacy please!"
"that was so embarrassing"
"are you done tkaing photos yet?"

the blues...

Salvia guaranitica, "Black and Blue Salvia"

Linum perenne, "Blue Flax"Platycodon, "Balloon Flower","Chinese Bellflower"
Centaurea cyanus, "Cornflower", "Bachelor's Button"
Anagallis, "Wilcat Blue"
Farinacea, "Victoria Blue Salvia"
Lisianthus Eustoma, "Echo Blue Picotee"
Baby Blue Eyes...Guess Who?

I had fun trying out the color accent feature on my camera. After focusing on a color it will photograph in black and white with only the color I focused on coming through. Ketcie was a willing subject! She has huge baby blues like her cousing Jayme!