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 

At the Feeders and in the Trees - Week 38

Some of my favorite birds have visited recently. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak only visits my feeders in April and May. It's always exciting when the male and female return.

They enjoy eating safflower seeds at the feeders.

Another sweet bird that visits during the spring is the Indigo Bunting.

The Northern Cardinal is another favorite and he visits year round. I never tire of his visits.

The Goldfinch was the very first bird I started feeding back in the late 80's. Who wouldn't be attracted to their brilliant color. 

Thanks for stopping by for another "At the Feeders and in the Trees" post - 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

Sundays at Home @ Little Farmstead on Saturday

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound

Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate on Sunday

Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic & Refined on Sunday 

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

My Corner of the World @ Photographing New Zealand on Wednesday
Talk of the Town @ Kick of Time 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

In the Bird Houses #2

Last summer, we put up three bluebird houses and got no takers. Recently, I posted about bluebirds in one of the houses. Now for a week or so, we started seeing other birds going in and out of another one of the bluebird house. The house they are using is further back from the two other houses. 

My husband sent me a text to bring the camera to come out and see if I could get some pics of the bird and identify it. I knew it looked to dark to be a bluebird; it looked dark gray.

I was shocked to see a titmouse on the house.  Hmm, I had no clue a titmouse would use a bluebird house.

Love the two pics in the collage below of the titmouse in flight. I thought he was going to fly right into me.

Not sure what this guy thought he was doing, but he didn't bother the house.

Here's the bluebirds in the bluebird house, in case you missed that post: A Visit from the Eastern Blue Bird (In the Birdhouses #1)

We moved two wren houses last year that were in the trees near our deck.  We hung them on a tree branch behind our shop in an area is quieter and not so busy with bird visiting the feeders.

We see the Carolina Wrens flitting around the trees by the shop. The pair sing all day long and are so fun to watch.

The wrens are now nesting in one of the houses. They are difficult to photograph because they generally move so quickly. One thing we have noticed, is the male seems to stand watch in a nearby branch while the female goes in the house. He doesn't move until she comes out. That may give me a chance to get more pics of the male.

Thanks for stopping by for my second post in this series: In the Birdhouses

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

My Corner of the World @ Photographing New Zealand on Wednesday
Talk of the Town @ Kick of Time 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

Sundays at Home @ Little Farmstead on Saturday

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound

Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate on Sunday

Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic & Refined on Sunday