Tiny and Tall

[yourlibrarian]

In my last post I had pics of battling hummingbirds. Another thing they start doing is staking out the feeder and ambushing their competitors. This is a good opportunity for us to get some photos of them hanging out in the plant pots as normally they're in and out pretty quickly.





From the tiny to the very tall -- hard to believe two such enormously different creatures are both birds.



We had some very hot days this summer, and noticed that the birds were feeling it. We could see the heron panting. The next day it spent some time in the following pose:



I've mentioned before that our local ducks like to gather on a "driveway" down to the lake which is otherwise bordered by a wall. We call it "duckie beach." One day someone decided to set up near said beach and the ducks were clearly not happy about someone invading their turf. They were all standing in the water's edge, apparently waiting to see if the fisherman was going to move. Since he didn't they eventually swam and then flew away.

Although we didn't get pictures, another day a group of crows was hanging around on the beach with the ducks on the lake wall opposite it. Apparently they decided to reassert their rights to the space and a flotilla headed over. I thought the crows might stand their ground but as the ducks closed in, they all flew off.

Clearly this is THE prime spot for a bunch of animals ;)



A grebe out on the lake:



Lastly some light and shadows in a sunset:

Comments

[julian]

Huh, never seen that heron pose before. D'you think it's also a cooling thing? (Also, nice capture.)

[yourlibrarian]

I think so. You can see in the pic that the heron is all wet and has taken an intentional dunk in the water.

Thanks!

[ex_weird446]

Beautiful pictures!

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks!

[linky]

These are lovely pictures!

[yourlibrarian]

Glad you enjoyed them!

[adafrog]

Cool!

[yourlibrarian]

Cool cool!

[shirebound]

I love your shots so much.

And I had no idea that hummingbirds stake out feeders and ambush their competitors!

[yourlibrarian]

They are bad tempered little critters! During the end of season battles we can hear them zooming and chittering and sometimes clacking as their beaks smack into one another. I have a video of some of it and you can hear it even through a closed door: https://youtu.be/hL-Nvv27zzg?feature=shared&t=66

What's funny is that sometimes these fights go on for so long that it's like they call a truce long enough for them to refuel at the feeder and then...off they go again! 😄

[shirebound]

Thanks for sharing that! Amazing.

[cmcmck]

Such great pics!

[yourlibrarian]

Thank you!

[sparowe]

Everything's so beautiful! <3

[yourlibrarian]

It's wonderful what can be seen right outside one's windows.

[ribirdnerd]

Very nice. I have not seen a Grebe around here in awhile.

[yourlibrarian]

Ours tend to stay for short amounts of time. We generally see some in summer but they've been gone awhile so I'm guessing they're very strict about migrating times.

[scintilla10]

Aww, some great shots! Thanks for sharing!

[yourlibrarian]

Glad you enjoyed them!