This Summer of 2018 has been unusually wet. But that has not stopped the flowers, insects and birds from making a grand appearance.

Here are just a few of the usual suspects.

 

I like seeing flowers in the garden, but there is something so incredible in finding/seeing colorful insects, if only for a very brief moment!

 

Wasp carrying nesting material in her mandibles.

 

Inchworm on the petal of a Coneflower.

 

Tiny gold fly with incredible shimmer to her whole body.

 

Monarch on Beebalm plant.

 

Bumblebee keeping four legs anchored to the flower petals so she could stick her head and other legs in to access the flower nectar.

 

 

 

This incredible Katydid showed up during the day.

 

Hummingbird Moth – in fact we had several of them this year, some with reddish/pinkish edged wing margins, others with black edged wing margins.

 

Could not believe it when I saw this Great Blue Heron in my yard just walking around. I don’t have a water feature– pool or fountain or pond, so it made no sense as to why he was hanging around.

 

Grumpy old male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird after chasing all of the birds off  “his feeder”!  He stopped here to groom himself and got one of his feathers stuck to the tip of his bill– and no, I would not dare laugh as he was not amused!

 

 

 

Begonia with an “infestation” of BB’s or baby birds (Sparrows)!

 

Hummingbird youngster.

 

Mama Hummingbird taking a break.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

 

 

 

 

Hosta flowers sticking out from a sea of leaves.

 

Crab spider getting into position in the center of a petunia in order to catch little bugs attracted to the flower’s nectar.   These spiders can change color from white to yellow in order to camouflage themselves better on some flowers.

 

Twin Cardinals.

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird sticking its tongue out.

 

Thread-waisted Wasp and Great Golden Digger Wasp on a Milkweed Flower cluster.

#insects #garden