The Hunter...YardBird #59

The 59th species I've photographed in our yard this year, a Black-throated Green Warbler.  As with many fall warblers, I'm not sure if this is a male or female, but I'd take a wild guess that it's a female male. And, as you can see, he's got his eyes on that hoverfly - a potential meal.  Also in the yard today were the first two Purple Finches of the fall - this one being a juvenile with very muted markings, looking similar to a house finch.  

The sun is finally out, so I had a little macro safari in the yard which turned up a little bumble bee with a very long ... proboscis and a migrant male monarch, looking delicious.  And, although I don't do a lot of flower photos, I'm aware that I won't get many more chances, so I had my way with this lovely little yellow African Daisy.  

Not surprisingly, I woke up stiff and sore this morning, but some ginger tea, ibuprofin and a few yoga stretches seem to have fixed me right up.  Hubs and I are going to go measure the garden space later today and then I'm going to sketch up some plans and start ordering seeds.  Can you tell I'm totally excited?  

Meanwhile, signs of fall are appearing in our woods - the maples are starting to turn yellow/orange and the cherry trees are showing their first hints of orange.  It will be awhile before the hickories and oaks show fall colors...but it's coming.  Not sure I'm ready at all.

Thanks for the kind comments on my little hoverfly yesterday.  I actually saw several different species of hoverfly in the garden today which was nice - also a sign of the much nicer weather today.  In fact, the next three days are supposed to be mostly sunny and around 70 F, so I am going to take some time off from sorting photos and get out and enjoy the weather!

Cheers, and happy Monday.
Debbi