Backyard Bonanza

There was lots of activity in the backyard yesterday. I spotted two, young, female Baltimore orioles but didn't get pics of them. I had seen them a couple of days ago so wonder if they've taken up residency somewhere nearby.

I did release the 19th adult monarch. I saw monarchs flitting around the garden and later in the afternoon I spotted one feeding on one of Skip's giant zinnias. If you look closely, you can see the unfurled proboscis (tongue-like structure).

The spot along a vein in the hind wing indicates that it is a male. On the fore wing on the same side, there is a chunk out of the edge of the wing and the colours are a bit faded. This adult has been around for a while. He could be nectaring to get the strength to make the migration to Mexico.

 He spent quite a bit of time on the giant Joe Pye Weed blooms.

Then a female ruby-throated hummingbird flew in.

She actually rested to feed on one of the zinnias.

She fed on several of them. I liked this action shot.

Here's a totally amateur, unedited video of the event. Click on triangle to play then the little box (bottom right) to view full screen.