August 15, 2013 [LINK / comment]
For some reason, until recently, we hadn't had any hummingbirds around our back porch this summer. Finally two of them showed up last week, hovering around a neighbor's bush full of purple flowers. I couldn't quite manage to get any good photos of them, but I had better luck a week ago when paying a visit to my friend Matthew Poteat. He has a wide array of bird feeders around his back deck, and sure enough some of those tiny jewels showed up to partake of the sugary sweet liquid. That enabled me to get some decent "hummer" photos, at last. Hopefully I'll get even better photos over the next few weeks, before they leave for the winter.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird male, west of Staunton, August 9.
I updated my Wild Birds yearly photo gallery page with that photo, among a few others, including a female Goldfinch on her nest, and (more importantly), did likewise with the Augusta Bird Club Web site.