Flying Jewels

Flying jewels, yes, but this one was stuck. Todd found it trapped inside a garage that he was inspecting. What a cool thing to help this little bird, and to hold such a tiny treasure in his hand.

Yesterday Tyler went into the greenhouse where both front and back doors were wide open, but found a pair of bluebirds fluttering in a window. Todd supervised Tyler's carefully capturing one in each hand. He held them so carefully and loosely that they flew away before Todd could get a picture.

Our two small waterfalls in front of the house have also seen a lot of bird activity lately - the other day Todd and I were having our morning coffee and saw four robins, one of which took a very vigorous bath, a bluebird, some chickadees and a beautiful yellow bird with black on his wings and a red face - he took a bath too! I saw another robin stopping by for a drink a little later. It makes me wonder how much I miss simply because I'm not looking.

I love watching them and feeling that we are making their life easier. I feel the same when the bees are so serious about the flowers we have around, especially the lavender. They seem intent on searching every tiny flower for food.

Now the wasps and yellow jackets - not so much do I love them. They crave the water in the heat of summer, and I can't begrudge them, but it's a real day-spoiler to be stung.