Aerial Jewel

I have always loved hummingbirds. I put up a feeder a couple of months ago, which has attracted several of them, but one in particular (a male Anna's Hummingbird) seems to have claimed the feeder as his own. Hummingbirds are very territorial, and this little guy defends his feeder at all costs. Today was one of those lovely cool overcast days, so I took advantage of the lighting and snapped a couple of pictures of "my" little guy. One of the best things about the male Anna's is the fact that they sing. He sits in the trees in front of my house and sings his little heart out on a regular basis. Right click this link to download an MP3.

Coming in for a landing.

Here's the jewel part -- his beautiful neck feathers. I'm going to keep trying to get closer to him. These pictures were my first attempt after letting him get used to me over the past two months. He didn't seem to bother the flash going off, so I'm hoping I'll get some good shots as time goes by.

Lions and Tigers and Spiders! Oh, my!

Wait! That's not right. We didn't see any lions or tigers, but we did see one heck of a spider! I took a day trip out to the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum on Sunday, hoping to find some Fall color. Well, I didn't find any color, but I did find a few surprises. First, there were numerous butterflies and hummingbirds flitting about due to the plethora of flowers in the aptly named "Hummingbird Garden." Then, I stumbled across a beautiful garden spider. He (or she) was absolutely huge! In order to get the close-up shot, I had to stick my lens about 1" from the spider. I was sure it was going to scramble up its web, but it stayed put and allowed me to get my shot. Later, after hiking the high trail, I stopped in the "Aussie Walk-about" and took some pictures of a decaying Power Wagon. Man, I would love to restore that thing. I'm guessing it's a late 40's or early 50's model, but it could even be a 60's model as they didn't change a whole lot after the war. Finally, we headed home, but while doing so we noticed a large cave-like hole in the side of one of the mountains within the Superstition range. My daughter was pretty sure it contains an old Native American cliff dwelling. Well, I did a bit of Internet research, and concluded that it might be the Rogers Canyon Cliff Dwelling, but I'm not quite sure. Anyway, after reading about this ancient (600 year old) ruin, I'm determined to hike to it before summer comes around again.

There were several old world rose bushes in the garden. I captured this image of a large fly who was hanging onto the underside of the flower. I'm not sure, but it appears that his left (compound) eye is reflecting the underside of the rose. Click the picture to see it at full size.

Here's a little Painted Lady. We see large numbers of these little beauties in our own backyard.

This beauty is a Pipevine Swallowtail. Unfortunately, of the several specimans flying around, none of them would hold still long enough to get a decent shot, but at least this picture captures its beautiful blue coloration. And yes, the orange flower it is sitting on is really that orange!

A glorious (not to mention, very large) female Banded Argiope (Argiope Trifasciata) spider. I've not seen one quite this big before. I estimate her body was at least 1.5 inches in length.

Ah, the old Power Wagon, complete with a lucky horseshoe.

I love the color, it's my favorite. :)