Hummers, Monarchs and Other Critters

Over the summer season we've had a number of types of critters in the garden.  We've seen birds, butterflies, and a variety of insects - a cricket kept Mrs. F.G. awake half the night last night.  And yes, we've had several mammals, those squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks that occasionally do damage in the garden!

The best pictures of the entire summer might be these two photos of a hummingbird.  Shooting right out the window where I often sit, I just aimed and got the photo.  Unretouched except for some cropping.  I was just very lucky! 

These bright orange sunflowers are Mexican sunflowers, and they provide a bright spark of colour at the front of the house.  The hummingbird seems to visit every flower in the garden, but it kept returning here.

We kept some milkweed in the garden for the Monarchs, and we've had them flitting around for weeks.  But 'flitting' doesn't make for easy photos!

The Monarch too was enjoying the Mexican sunflowers.  In fact, sometimes I watched as the Monarch and hummingbird headed for the same flower!  They didn't come to blows though.

Early in the season, when we hadn't been getting much rain, this young Flicker stopped by for a dustbath.  It threw the dust around and stayed for several minutes enjoying itself.

What struck me were those incredible wing feathers of yellow and brown as it stretched out its wings in the sun.

It kept preening itself for what seemed like ten minutes before flying off.

We often equate the term 'wildlife' with just mammals or birds, but when biologists refer to creating habitat in your garden, they are usually referring to the whole gambit of critters, including insects.  This was the easiest insect photograph for me, a grasshopper sitting on the front sidewalk.

And finally, we have that pesky little chipmunk that has fallen in love with the taste of tomatoes, particularly those large reddish ones that are almost ripe enough to slice and put in a sandwich!  You can imagine what Mrs. F.G. thinks!