Every once in a while we see a House Wren in the yard - and yesterday was one of those rare occasions. I had to double check my ID and confirm it was a House and not a Bewick's because of the faint eyebrow extending just behind the eye.
He was enjoying the berries that grow in the lush bushes along our back fence.
This is an interesting creature. We saw half a dozen of these last night after dinner flitting from the 4 o'clocks to the honeysuckle. They never stopped and it was almost impossible to get a decent picture.
The camera setting stopped his wings so I could get a good look. This is a White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moth. Apparently the caterpillars feed on 4 o'clocks - and we have quite a few (except ours are more like 7 o'clocks!).
It only takes one terrible picture (and trust me - I cropped out the worst parts!) for me to take the camera away from my dear hubby, Bill. He was supposed to be getting pictures of the large flock of Bushtits that stopped by while I was painting the new door on the potting house - but he has a short attention span.
Why a door on the potting house after all these years? When we returned from Florida in May, we discovered that a large family of raccoons had been using the outbuilding as a common latrine. Apparently, raccoons defecate in communal sites and we found a huge pile. Their feces can be dangerous to people as they harbor roundworm eggs - but I didn't learn this until AFTER I cleaned up the mess. It took several applications of "Critter Ridder" and ammonia to convince them to "go" elsewhere. After en extreme cleaning and new floor boards, we added the door and I painted it red to match the flower in the stained glass window.
Bill never did get a decent picture of the Bushtits - or me.
1 comment:
I had just read about the hummingbird moths down in NC -- didn't look like yours but would love to see one!!! Take that camera away from Bill!!
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