Imagine my surprise when I got another visit from the Cooper’s hawk Saturday afternoon! He came swooshing through the shrubs and landed right in front of me on the birdbath. There he sat still for a few moments, then hopped onto the ground behind the […]
All posts filed under: Up Close & Personal …
Hummingbird Magic
Summer is here and so are the hummingbirds! Hummers rarely sit still. This one however just sat and sipped nectar for a few moments. Crocosmia is a favorite hummingbird flower! “Lecker!” Delicious! Check out the tongue down below! I never get tired of watching hummingbirds! And […]
Up Close & Personal … The Western Tanager
While sitting outside one morning last week, the Zendog and I suddenly felt a swoosh of air moving past our heads. For a moment all I could see was a bright blur heading straight for the lilac bush. Once this brightly colored bird landed, I […]
Up Close & Personal … Introducing Dan (the) Quail
How do you spell potato? 😉 Late Sunday afternoon I I noticed a rather large creature rustling through the bushes around my wildflower corner. I looked up and couldn’t believe my eyes! Right there in front of me I saw this beautiful California quail. He […]
Up Close & Personal … The American Dipper
For Sandi! That same afternoon where I listend to Daniel’s fabulous cello music in Lithia Park, I had another unexpected encounter along one of the walking paths. Strolling south along Ashland Creek, I crossed the creek on one of the wooden bridges. Just past the […]
Up Close & Personal … Song Sparrow’s Bath Time
There are several birdbaths in my garden, but this song sparrow took a dip in a puddle that formed on a black plastic tarp. Last spring I covered a large part of a flowerbed with it, in hope of taming some out of control alstroemeria. […]
Up Close & Personal … The Cheerful Chickadee
Most of the time, chickadees don’t sit still for a portrait session like this one. But when I encountered this tiny chestnut-backed chickadee the other day, I was surprised at the cooperation, or perhaps he was simply just curious about me! Chickadees visit in small […]
Up Close & Personal … The Red-Breasted Nuthatch
There are lots and lots of these tiny red-breasted nuthatches in the woods behind our house. How do I know you might wonder? Well, I know because I can hear them calling in their thin nasally voice all day long. For a tiny (4 1/2 […]
Up Close & Personal … Painting with Sunlight
Rainbow planet wearing a belt? Potholders created from worsted felt? Gutter ball rolling down the lane? Colorful art work ready for a frame? Bright yellow, green, purple and blue What are you looking at? Do you have a clue? At the bottom of the post […]
Up Close & Personal … The Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Last week a small flock of 5 golden-crowned kinglets visited the garden. They are about the size of a hummingbird and can survive temperatures up to -40 degrees Fahrenheit by snuggling together in the cold. They don’t really sit still for more than a second […]
Up Close & Personal … The Downy Woodpecker
This time of year we get a lot of woodpeckers visiting the suet feeders. The female downy woodpecker identical to the hairy woodpecker, except for its size and the length of the bill. The downy has a short stubby beak in comparison to its body size. Males […]
Up Close & Personal … Purple Blaze of Beautyberries
Years ago I took a few horticultural classes at the local community college. Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’, commonly known as beautyberry, was one of the many plants I was introduced to then. The instructor stressed that these plants like to be close to another one of […]
Up Close & Personal … Coyotes howling in the Night
It’s not very often that I see coyotes walk past our garden, but we do hear them howling during the night sometimes. Yesterday evening a group of coyotes congregated in the dark forest behind us, howling, yelping and barking loudly. They sounded almost a little […]
Up Close & Personal … Gentle Mourning Doves
This faithful pair of mourning doves has been visiting us for years during spring and summer. They usually fly in, waddle over to where the bird feeders are, in hopes of finding some morsels other birds might have dropped. After that, they always head over […]
Up Close & Personal … The very hungry Wasp
Have you ever seen these foamy masses on your plants? Spittlebug nymphs excrete a fluid and literally whip it into a bubbly foam. They then hide from predators inside it. So imagine my surprise, when I encountered this scene one summer morning! The wasp climbed […]
Up Close & Personal … The Cooper’s Hawk
The view from my kitchen window is fabulously distracting! I was in the midst of making a salad for dinner one night recently, when I happened to glance out the window. The yard was eerily quiet and not a bird in sight! That’s when I […]
Happy Friday from my favorite Spot in my Garden!
Love-in-a-mist, or Nigella damascena, are some of my very favorite flowers! These particular ones are extra special because they were given to me many years ago. I sprinkled the seeds throughout the flowerbeds around our deck. I waited, and waited, and waited some more … but […]
Up Close & Personal … One not so Elusive Dragonfly
We’ve lived in this house for 13 years now and I don’t remember ever seeing this many dragonflies in our yard. Despite not having a pond or water feature, I see them zooming through our yard all day long. This is the third species I […]
