The birds and the bees

Reservation for .... 7?

Both Trish and I love to sit in the chairs in the backyard and watch the birds. Trish maintains 2 feeders and at this time of year (early August), the birds are very busy and she fills the feeders almost once a day! They are so much fun to watch.

We have lots and lots of house sparrows who usually eat in large groups, then head to the tree branches to clean themselves. The blue jays try desperately to fit their large bodies on the small rungs of the feeders and are often successful! They usually eat alone or with one partner. The cardinals are the shyest, especially the females. We often see them waiting in the evergreens for their turn at the feeder. In the past week, I think there are 2 new little cardinals - one male, one female. They are quite small and she is still a little fluffy. So sweet. The goldfinches love the heads of the coneflowers, so they seem to have just arrived as the flowers have opened. We also have lots of doves, a few starlings, and some chickadees. I'll have to do another post at a later date and feature some of the ones I didn't capture here!
Enjoy these pics - they were all taken in the first week or so of August.

He has such brilliant colour!

The shy female cardinal.

Goldfinch.

Who me??

Female sparrow.

Standing tall and proud :)

Trying desperately to reach the feeder!!

The male and female sparrows have different colouring, as you can see in these pics. The females are lighter brown and tan with a very pale chest. The males have darker colouring in general, with more of a reddish hue. They have a black mark under their beaks. I've read that the males' colour darkens during mating. We have noticed that with 'our' birds. Trish especially loves the close-ups where you can see the seeds in their mouths!

The bees have arrived in the last couple of weeks. It's wonderful to see them! There is such a variety of flowers in the garden at this time of year, so the bees seem very happy and busy buzzing from one to the other. We love to see them in our garden!