...Demanding Equal Time

The two Carolina Wrens showed up to have tea with me this morning, carrying on something fierce about how they aren't getting any attention, the hummers are getting all the good gigs, etc. Well, what could I do? This little one was going to dit-dit-dit me to death if I didn't cave and blip him! I'm not actually sure if these two are siblings or if they are my mated pair molting. They look a bit of a mess right now, so I think they may be the adult pair in molt - they always show up together. Carolina Wrens are incredibly curious little birds, so they will come quite close, allowing for excellent photo ops. The only challenge is that they are constantly bobbing and darting so many times the camera frame ends up empty.

The young blue jays have finally stopped harassing their poor beleaguered parents for food and seem to be foraging on their own. I'm not sure, but I think I heard the parents muttering "thank God! I thought they'd NEVER move out!" But I could be wrong... HERE is a shot of one of the young ones trying to figure out if he can make his big move or not. (Greed won out and he darted in for a peanut.) The band of young chickadees was also around, and they discovered the dish of shelled peanuts, much to their delight. Dora the Explorer was the first one in to grab a peanut. She's quite the little achiever!

And, yes, the hummies were in fine form today. If you need a hummie fix, here are a few of my favorite shots today...

Young male hummie scoring a touchdown!

Young hummie sharing the feeder with a wasp - yikes.

What happens when you use too much hair product

I had my interview with Jessica from the NJ Herald today - she was such a nice young woman! Not sure when the story will run, but I will link to it for those interested.

It's hot and sticky here in NJ...and it's Monday. Need I say more?

Oh, and under that category of That Sucks, I discovered that yellow jackets have colonized the far end of my flower bed. Yep, there is an underground nest with streams of the nasty little things going back and forth. So, tonight after the sun sets, I'll be out there with my "earth friendly" yellow jacket/wasp eradicator, hopefully destroying the nest while they are all asleep. Hate to do it, but they are aggressive things that pack a horrible bite. Don't want several thousand of them living in my garden...