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And this is me when I forget to use the mosquito spray or wear the safari hat in the garden 😛😆 I dare you not to scratch yourself!

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The tiniest of feathered miracles continue to visit, getting more bold by the day. I love that this one has gotten very comfy with this feeder and actually sits down there. This one's for Diane.

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I haven't been posting a lot of them recently but there are still Orioles around. These clips are all from yesterday and today. They are certainly starting to migrate but it is nice to still get a daily vitamin O dose.

(The feeder gets cleaned every day, the black stuff on the metal is the old metal coming through, I spray-painted this holder early in the season.)

Music is called "A fashionable song where time passes slowly(847776).

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The footage is a bit muddy but here is an update on the House Wren nest. The four babies are one week old and doing very good. The parents feed them constantly, and the female is preening them a lot (there may be mites in the nest). Here you see why two holes can be good for a nestbox - no traffic jams for the parents! It is kind of nice to have a nest this late in the season.

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It's been very hot but also slow and so silent here during the day. In the evening, an enormous choir of crickets is starting, giving these last hot summer days a proper send-off. A good time to do camera experiments again, like putting a photo cam on the ground. As it turns out, there is a Groundhog here after all.

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A Tussock moth caterpillar is going to work on some milkweed. I found this plant in the garden the other day and decided to put a camera there for a timelapse. For whatever reason it is satisfying to watch the leaf getting eaten 😆🐛 I also love how the other plants are moving around at night.

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This is just going to turn into a hummingbird account now 🤪 This is a camera feeder I tried new this season, it is the smaller one from Birdfy. The birds are just beginning to find it. I like the assembly of this one better than the big one, the nectar compartment is easier to clean and refill. I am not entirely sure I love the way the ports are sitting so sideways and I think mine are not center-aligned perfectly but the birds seem to do ok with it. It is funny that the camera creates these whirlies when they fly. Audio also seems a bit muted. But image quality is pretty great and the app works well as always with their feeder cams.

I am using this with the solar panel, which works great, and also have that little ant moat that they offer, so that no ants can come up via the solar panel cable. The feeder does seem to get a little out of balance because of that, and my remedy is to tape some tire weights to the front of the underside of the nectar container. I fix the thing in place with duct work aluminum tape like I do with pretty much all my hanging feeders. That stuff is dope!

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Lots of hummingbirds today, and the young male showed up too! As can be seen, there are several individuals around, their different looks make it easy to tell them apart. One is heavily molting but has new feathers coming in (the little white "spikes"). One had an itch, one looks like it took a bath and one visited flowers before. I cannot get enough of them, they are just so wonderful and fascinating.

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Things have slowed down here a bit with the first summer guests starting to migrate. I haven't seen a Grosbeak in two days, Orioles are still visiting but a lot less, and Blackbirds and Cowbirds are beginning to flock. The hummingbirds are still around and a Robin family has shown up. The garden is thriving, and it is nice to have a bit of a break for the wallet. Here are some recent visitors to the Birdfy bath. The squirrel has a stained snout because it has been nibbling on green walnuts 😆

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After a rough night where something either bit her or bothered her very much, this morning Wrennifer welcomed two hatchling baby Wrens. She is a lot calmer now, and she has help from her guy now. It is fairly warm but there is a sun-shielding umbrella on the box for some extra protection, and there are plenty of insects around to feed the littles. We will see if the other two still hatch. I turned this to b/w because the nest is so dense you can't really see anything in the daylight anyways. What a chaotic nesting season!

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Teen hummer boy with the three red throat feathers returned for a quick visit. With hummers, slow motion is always fun to see what they actually do, so here you go.

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It's been another busy work week with little spare time, and I feel a bit like this molting Cardinal - but we made it through, and Friday is almost here. May it be as smooth and pleasant as it can be 🫶

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There are three kinds of Wrens that I have seen in my yard, and two of them are in this clip. First up is the House Wren, this may be Wrennifer on a brooding break or her guy. They inspect cams because I think they think they are nestboxes. After that a little surprise to me, it's been a while - a Carolina Wren. I have been hearing them in the yard but rarely see them. There was a Winter Wren here too one time but not in this clip. Last is a very relaxed squirrel. Good night!

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I am always a bit nervous with this feeder because they always need a bit to get used to it but I got lucky with this little ham that just sat down for a sesh repeatedly and enjoyed the sun. She may end up in the calendar, I love her so much (it may be a young male too, not sure, I do see a tiny dark speck on the throat but it could be anything.)

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The Redwinged Blackbirds have started to bring their babies, and they are all exploring the pond and yard under the watchful eye of the parents. Here is a very young one, still with a partially bald face, that was very adorable and also tried to help with weeding. I like this camera position, it is not ideal and requires lots of lens wiping but it gives these fun glimpses into their world.

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The Northern Flicker is one of the larger Woodpeckers in North America and one of the most beautiful birds I have seen here. It mainly forages on the ground, drilling lawns for ants, so it rarely visits feeders. They sometimes visit the bird bath, though. This is a male, as can be seen by his magnificent mustache (females don't have that).

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I hope you're not sick of hummingbirds yet... I am not, and I find something fascinating every time I watch a clip or look at a photo. This is regular speed and then slowed down by a lot.

(Music is: "Quiet and calm guitar slow jazz(1319455)")