Bees, Butterflies, Birds, and Blooms

My yard has been has been a busy place this week. I've been having lots of visitors. 

Bees are buzzing around the flowers.

Butterflies have been scarce this summer but this week we have seen several more.

Birds

The hummers have certainly been a delight to watch. This summer, they have been sitting on a couple of perches near the feeders. 

The perches are just a couple of branches that have been trimmed or broken.  

We are thrilled that they rest their little feet on them. 

This guy has his stare on another hummer getting too chose to the feeder. They are always on guard.

Sometimes they perch on the top of the little branch that sticks up. 

Did you know birds need different shapes and sizes of perches and stands for exercise and foot health?  Plus it gives us more time to snap pics of them! 

Hummingbirds spend a lot of time rotating their wings. They can fly forward, backward, hover, and even up-side down for a short time. Check out the wing positions in the following four snaps.

You can imagine the joy we have watching the hummers!

Blooms

The cannas continue to provide beautiful color.

Zinnias in the cutting bed.

Crepe Myrtles in our front beds.

Limelight Hydrangea in our front bed.

I am thankful for the many visitors and colorful blooms that surround me. 

That's it for this week. Thanks for stopping by - Judy.

Linking to:

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound on Friday

Sundays at Home @ Little Farmstead on Saturday

Saturday's Critters @ Viewing Nature with Eileen on Saturdays
Camera Critters on Saturday
I'd Rather Be Birdin' on Saturday at noon

Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate on Sunday

Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic & Refined on Sunday

MET Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Talk of the Town @ Kick of Time on Tuesday

My Corner of the World @ Photographing New Zealand on Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop @ Claire Justine

Share Your Style Link Party @ White Arrows Home 

Home and Garden Thursday @ A Delightsome Life on Wednesday evening

Thankful Thursday @ It's a Small Town Life

Little Things Thursday @ Random-osity

Friday Photo Journal @ Serendipity is Sweet

Birds, Butterflies, and Blooms

The weather has been really hot and humid here in Kentucky this week. The birds have been visiting my feeders which allows me to snap pics of them.

The Downy Woodpecker is a regular visitor and is such a cutie. 

I'm only getting a few hummers but thankful to see them visit. 

The White-breasted Nuthatch has been in the trees near my deck the last few days. He hasn't been visiting lately so he is a welcomed site.

The Northern Cardinal eats the Safflower seeds at my feeders and scattered on the deck. The cardinals don't visit my feeders as much during the summer, they are out eating in the wild.

This guy drives me a bit crazy as he loves to eat bird food and drinks out of my hummingbird feeders. He's enjoying the black oiled sunflower seeds!

Butterflies this week include:

Red Admiral

Only a few swallowtails are visiting the flowers. Can you also see the fly on the flower?

White Sulfur Butterfly on a pink zinnia 

Blooms in the yard . . . 

Yellow Cannas

Purple Liatris (Blazing Star)

Sunflower that came up in a pot.

Pink Vinca

Lots of Zinnias - great for cutting

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by for birds, butterflies, and blooms - Judy.

Linking to:

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound on Friday

Sundays at Home @ Little Farmstead on Saturday

Saturday's Critters @ Viewing Nature with Eileen on Saturdays
Camera Critters on Saturday
I'd Rather Be Birdin' on Saturday at noon

Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate on Sunday

Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic & Refined on Sunday

MET Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Talk of the Town @ Kick of Time on Tuesday

My Corner of the World @ Photographing New Zealand on Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop @ Claire Justine

Share Your Style Link Party @ White Arrows Home 

Home and Garden Thursday @ A Delightsome Life on Wednesday evening

Thankful Thursday @ It's a Small Town Life

Little Things Thursday @ Random-osity

Friday Photo Journal @ Serendipity is Sweet

Blooms and Butterflies in Late June

The month of June is just about over and I'm only seeing a few butterflies visiting my flowers. 

Today I snapped an orange butterfly on my deck. 

I believe this one is the "Question Mark" butterfly. 

Bees are visiting daily.

The pumpkin seeds that my grandson and I planted weeks ago are blooming. We simply planted the seeds in a big pot and began watering. The seeds were a couple of years old so I didn't know what to expect. Would the seeds grow or do nothing? You can see by the blooms they surprised us and are now blooming. I've got to get them out of the pot and in the ground. 

We had dove eggs in a nest at the back of our shop a while back. The eggs are gone now so I'm not sure if something bothered them or, hopefully, they hatched while we were gone on a trip.

I moved some of our hummingbird feeders to the middle of our zinnia and coneflower beds hoping to attract more hummers. 

Thanks for stopping in today - Judy.


Linking to:

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound on Friday

Sundays at Home @ Little Farmstead on Saturday

Saturday's Critters @ Viewing Nature with Eileen on Saturdays
Camera Critters on Saturday
I'd Rather Be Birdin' on Saturday at noon

Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate on Sunday

Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic & Refined on Sunday

MET Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Talk of the Town @ Kick of Time on Tuesday

My Corner of the World @ Photographing New Zealand on Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop @ Claire Justine

Share Your Style Link Party @ White Arrows Home 

Home and Garden Thursday @ A Delightsome Life on Wednesday evening

Thankful Thursday @ It's a Small Town Life

Little Things Thursday @ Random-osity

Friday Photo Journal @ Serendipity is Sweet

Pollinators - Bees and Butterflies in the Garden

As our gardens come to life, we begin to see the beauty of our summer flowers.

Butterflies also begin to visit our gardens. The yellow swallowtail and the zebra swallowtail are attracted to the colorful flowers in my garden.

Butterflies are attracted to the colorful fragrant flowers in our gardens.  They feed on the nectar produced by the flowers. As they move from flower to flower, they pollinate the plants. 

Another pollinator that we see in our gardens are bees. 

Just as we need butterflies to pollinate, we need the bees to carry pollen from one flower to the next.

Thanks to these pollinators, our gardens end up with more plants and flowers. Thanks for stopping by - Judy.

Linking to:

Saturday's Critters @ Viewing Nature with Eileen on Saturdays
Camera Critters on Saturday
I'd Rather Be Birdin' on Saturday at noon

Mosaic Monday @ Letting Go of the Bay Leaf on Sunday

Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic & Refined on Sunday 

Amaze Me Monday @ Dwellings 
MET Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate on Monday

Inspiration Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life
Talk of the Town @ Kick of Time on Tuesday

My Corner of the World @ Photographing New Zealand on Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop @ Claire Justine

Share Your Style Link Party @ White Arrows Home 

Home and Garden Thursday @ A Delightsome Life on Wednesday evening

Thankful Thursday @ It's a Small Town Life

Little Things Thursday @ Random-osity

Friday Photo Journal @ Serendipity is Sweet

Thursday Favorite Things @ Follow the Yellow Brick Home

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound on Friday

Sundays at Home @ Little Farmstead on Saturday

Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate on Sunday

Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic & Refined on Sunday