Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Rufous Hummingbird

Where did I go? I've been busy with my metal detector! You may have noticed that I'm not posting as often as I usually do. At one point I was posting every day when I was working on my Pictures for Pam project. Though I'm still dedicating my pictures to Pam I'm not posting every day. I'd like to but I'm just too busy with other things going on around me. The biggest culprit is my new metal detector, a wonderful present which I got a few weeks before my birthday. With that, my attention has been pulled away while I go snooping around our property looking for treasures. I haven't found many special items but I have found a few things: my year-lost bracelet, a fancy chrome show collar for a dog, some old tools, a quarter one of us dropped in our meadow years ago, several corroded pennies and even an old rusty motorcycle chain! The majority of what I've found is metal junk: nails, screws, bolts, washers, wire, and…exploded bombs. STOP THE BUS! WHAT-WHAT-WHAT?!! DID I SAY EXPLODED BOMBS?! YES!! I kept finding these chunks of totally corroded metal all over the place and couldn't figure out what they were. So I searched online for any information I could find. I posted a picture of the metal shards on a metal detecting forum and of all the odd luck, a fellow who lives less than two miles away replied and told me exactly what I was finding: artillery shrapnel circa 1942-5 from Camp White, which was a temporary WWII training camp. At one point there were over 50,000 soldiers there in training. The US government purchased the entire area around we live, including about 10 miles in total, which they used for training. The whole area is littered with the results of their artillery fire. A lot of what I've found is buried several inches down or deeper, and that's because when Camp White was disassembled, crews went around and turned the soil over the whole area to bury the majority of the shrapnel. Is that crazy or what?! So anyway, my attention is severely split. I have, however, been working on my pictures and the bottomless pit of amazing images from Butchart Gardens is just unbelievable! Looks like I'll have a sixth set of images to share because I can't stop processing them! Today's Pictures My main picture today was a wonderful surprise! Steve and I were wandering around and suddenly I saw a hummingbird zoom in for some nectar! I believe it's a Rufous but I'm not positive. I did my best to take a bunch of pictures but I really had no idea if any would come out. SURPRISE! I have four winners to share, two of which I'm posting today and the others in my next presentations. :) Inset 1: another winner from my hummingbird attempts! Inset 2: a very busy bee, delirious from the amazing flowers, is an example of the vast number of happy insects there at Butcharts! Inset 3: a gorgeous banana leaf glowing in front of translucent greenery at the Mediterranean Garden where Steve and I had our picnic! Inset 4: this lovely hydrangea looks like a mini pink tree! Check out the shadows!! :D Inset 5: a leaf abstract showing the glowing, translucent details of some of the foliage at the Mediterranean Garden Inset 6: an artistic view of the whole leaf and another in its mature form…these may be two different plants though! Inset 7: this is not your ordinary begonia! I saw this and nearly fainted! Who ever SAW such an incredible begonia?! Soon after we began walking along the first path leading into the heart of Butchart Gardens, we saw a covered area that had about a billion flowering planters hanging from the structure. This was "Begonia Bower" and I was utterly blown away by the mind-blowing collection. I didn't get a picture of the area but I found one for you to see at Butchart's Facebook page. Seriously, I could spend days taking pictures in that lovely little spot! Inset 8: mottled magenta Lobelia (I think) with a red petunia glowing warmly in the background…this is a picture of some flowers from one of the outrageous flower baskets found everywhere in the park. Inset 9: although this isn't the best picture, it shows one of the hanging baskets I've been telling you about. If you want to have some fun, just try counting the different flowers and decorative plants that you can see. Mind you, the other side is equally stuffed with more species! Can you even believe it? Now, consider what I've been saying…the park has literally hundreds of these hanging baskets and planters totally overflowing with these explosions of color, shape and texture! Every single one could be studied and photographed for hours. Getting an understanding of how ridiculously amazing Butchart Gardens is? Trust me, you have NO idea! :D Inset 10: this is a stunning pond that, like the Mediterranean Garden, resides outside the main park, bordering the parking lot! It gave a tiny clue of what we were about to see inside! Pam, what species of hummingbirds live in your area? We have quite a few species, though I think I have pictures of Rufous adults and juveniles. They are so darn cute. And each is a flying jewel which is so very special! You've been on my mind and I hope all is as well as can be! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 10/07/19; highest placement #2.

2 more pictures above ! :) This morning I looked out the kitchen window and saw this adorable hummingbird sitting on a branch. I think they are so darn cute when they are sitting still, and I watched in joy while it turned its head this way and that. When it didn't fly away, I thought, "Oh...I'll try..." and I zoomed to get my camera, returning to find it still sitting happily! I took pictures through the window, but when it kept sitting there, I thought, "I wonder if I could open the back door and get a little bit better angle?" I tried...and this darling little bird watched me slowly creep over without fear. I managed to get this picture and several others before it flew off, returning an instant later for a sip of nectar from the hummingbird feeder before really flying off! :) Yay for adorable hummingbirds!!! :D (I am pretty sure this is an Anna's Hummingbird. Its throat feathers are red when the sun hit them, but its back was facing the sun so I wasn't able to get those gorgeous, gleaming feathers to light up for the camera.) Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. Her birthday on June 27 is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and was authorized at the federal level by presidential proclamation by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, her 100th birthday. Wikipedia: Helen Keller Explored on November 6, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.

2 more pictures in notes above and a silly text note too! :) This quote really fits because today I'm stretching out of my comfort zone: I made a post on Flickr to say that I will no longer be uploading pictures and will be deleting all but my last two pictures in a few days. Ouch...not an easy thing to do!!! Leslie C. "Les" Brown (born February 17, 1945) is a motivational speaker, former Ohio politician, popular author, radio DJ, and former host of The Les Brown Show. As a politician, he is a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives.[1] As a motivational speaker, he uses the catch phrase, "It's possible," and teaches people to follow their dreams as he learned to do. Wikipedia: Leslie C. "Les" Brown Explored on July 31, 2013. Highest placement: page 2 (#38).

We have a hummingbird feeder hanging off our back deck, and this year we've gotten a lot of visitors coming by for drinks. After we found out the nectar is just sugar and water, we decided to make ourselves and the birds seem to love it much more than the powdered mix we used to give them! Unlike other years, there are little darlings coming by all day long! This evening I saw 4 of them sitting and drinking at the feeder with one on a perch nearby waiting for a turn for a tasty beverage! (There are actually six seats, but these feisty birds don't often want to be so crowded!)