Bird watching season isn't over with looming Labour Day, however, the bird population does change. The blackbirds have gone from my feeder, as have the rose-breasted grosbeaks.

As do many of us, I provide bird feeders, as well as encouraging flowers, for my birds.

This indoor plant, a fuchsia, I pop outdoors in the summer. The hummingbirds love it. It's taken some time to bloom.


It is easier said than done, to photograph them. I sit on the back deck, and wait for that tell-tale sound of their wings humming. A cat is usually on the back deck with me. This discourages them somewhat. When I pick up the camera, they get antsy.

Even if the felines are out patrolling the forest, the hummers get ticked off. They would fly halfway between myself and the flowers, and buzz, giving me the eye as if to scare me away. They are happier at the front, with the real hummingbird feeder, but, again, photos are tricky!

Pretty Rufous hummingbird on my horse chestnut

It's orange wasn't visible until it turned its head.

Goldfinch and chickadee share

In the front I have some sunflowers that have gone to seed. The birds are content to share with one another. The sunflowers have been hosting all sorts of bees and wasps. They now lean over, heads drooping with the weight of the ripe seeds. The cycle of life, and the cycle of the season, is nearly complete. Days shorten, temperatures moderate.

Eastern tiger swallowtail on phlox

Swallowtail likes the petunias as much as the hummingbirds!

Bee in balloon flower