At last...

Although I should be somewhere over the air between Chicago and Portland at the moment, the first leg of my trip this morning was delayed and I am now not flying out until this evening.  Which gave me an unexpected day to nap and take a few shots in the garden.  The bummer is that I won't land until 10 PM Pacific time (or 1 AM my time!)  

But the upside is that I got a nice long nap which I really needed.  I'm still getting over one of the nastiest bouts of fatigue I've had in several years. And I got to see my Papa wren setting up house with his new Madame wren.  Yes, the little female who showed up this weekend has apparently accepted Papa and is busy putting the final touches on one of the nest boxes.  Lots of flying to and fro with a few singing breaks for Papa.  His singing is less frenzied now, though - it has been a long month for the little guy since he lost his first mate.  

A family of house sparrows visited garden - not the most welcome of sights since they are known to kill other cavity nest species babies to take over nests.  Hopefully they will leave the swallows and wrens alone and move on.  That said, it is still lovely to watch them tending their young.  The female was busy feeding three very rowdy youngsters.  House Finches also had some young in the yard, so quite busy.

More hummers are starting to show up.  Haven't seen any youngsters yet but seeing more females and P-Hummie is spending a lot of time trying to guard the feeders, in between doing his courtship flights and chasing all comers.  I posted a shot of a female sitting in our ficus tree (which is spending the summer on the deck) right HERE, looking very fluffy.

A couple of other shots...

Chippie in the sunflowers...literally
and
House Sparrow feeding frenzy

Now, I am off to repack my lens and the D600 and head to the airport for the second time today...

Cheers.