Butterflies chase each other around, too. I think it's a territorial issue. My silver-spotted skipper (mine because it is always here in the garden) and the Tawny Emperor were having a chase around the garden the other day. Eventually the Tawny left. The SSS is a very strong flyer, much stronger than the Tawny.

I get such a kick out of watching them, and yes, they do make me laugh a lot. I also love to watch the mocking birds. If you have any, they have this funny thing they do with their wings. When they are sitting on a perch, they will expand their wings in a jerky motion. They do this several times and they are funny to watch, too.

They and the Blue Jays fight for dominance in the garden - not really much of a fight. They just scream at each other - more like a stare-down! LOL!

They also squawk at my cat when he's outdoors. And, he could care less. He just lays down in the grass and is very nonchalant about it. Heehee!

The bumble bees love my campanula 'Elizabeth'. The flowers are like bells, and they can climb up inside of them to reach the pollen. What's funny is when they are so loaded with pollen they can't quite make it up inside. They are so funny trying, though.

Susan

"The bumble bees love my campanula 'Elizabeth'. The flowers are like bells,....."

Have you heard them buzz with delight and the sound is amplified due to the bell shape of the flower. Such a funny sound.

No, I haven't, Edna. I'll have to pay closer attention. I do recall them loving the tecoma stans, which also has bell-shaped flowers. It was so funny seeing those big bumble booties hanging out of the flowers!

Susan

I have one particular hypericum (I think it is 'Sun pat') that is like a drug to bumble bees. The bees are in a total frenzy, like a video in high speed... feeding on the flowers. Then, they just roll over on the flower to rest (or in a stupor)! At first, I thought they were dead, so I'd poke them and they'd wake up!

I know St. John's Wort is an anti-depressant for humans and it definitely does something for the bees...nirvana? LOL

Cameron

J have always gotten a laugh out of the way some butterflies and all male hummingbirds try to drive away others of the species away from the garden or a feeder. Then, I heard someone refer to the male hummers as bull-hummingbirds and I thought I would fall over laughing. I mean just how threatening can something that tiny expect to be? I tried to imagine what the threats might be if they spoke a particular language.

Oh well, I have had a hummer or two follow me around the yard and wondered if they were angered by my presence or just curious. Murray

Oh, I can DEFINITELY attest to that 'bull' mentality of the Hummingbirds in my yard! I wonder if that's really where 'Hummer' comes from for that HumVee car? LOL Those little guys chase one another around and even boss ME around if I don't have any 'juice' in their feeders (not like there's any FLOWERS for them in the yard! little buggersÂ).

There is absolutely nothing better to me than to do some gardening, collect some butterfly eggs, then lie back in my La Fuma lounger in the backyard with my book, dog playing/eating (earthworms/flowers/chewies) nearby while the Gulf Frits chase the Monarchs and the Monarchs chase each other then back they all go again with the Mourning Cloaks in the mix. Right now, the Monarchs are having their game of tag, which is loads of fun to watch as they have a set pattern almost to their game.

Yesterday, I came home early (for me, anyway) as I was going to a friend's 60th birthday party. While out back collecting some Monarch eggs, this gorgeous Dragonfly came out and of course, I had to take some pictures. Well, through the lens, it looked like she was SMILING! :)

{{gwi:478963}}
I could see her mandibles opening & closing and it was just amazingÂ

Has anyone else had this experience with hummers? About 1/3 of the time that I fill our hummer feeder hanging below our upper deck, a hummer comes to supervise. AS I'M POURING THE LIQUID IN THE FEEDER, THE HUMMER IS STATIONED WITHIN ABOUT A FOOT FROM MY HEAD. I'm expecting the hummer to sample the liquid AS I'M POURING IT INTO THE FEEDER ( like a taste tester).

mike

It sure does look like a smile, Sherry. Great picture.

*LOL* Mike. I'll have to try your method. I usually bring the feeder indoors to change.

I have a similar experience with hummers. One of my little buddies always preened in the top of the willow tree where I could see him from our garden room. When the feeders were empty, he'd watch me refill them out in the garden. When my husband or I played the banjo in the garden room, he hovered by the window. We recently found this little guy deceased under a shrub and covered in a spider web. Don't know if he was injured and fell, or if he somehow got caught up. My husband buried him for me and it was all I could do to not get all choked up.

We have two more in the garden. We have so much blooming for them, along with two feeders, so I'm surprised that there aren't more of them.

Mike,

Maybe those Hummers have been watching you enjoying the vino? And has learned to do the taste test? :) Hey, I HAVE found that there are certain products that the Hummingbirds in our yard REFUSE to imbibe! Yep, that's right! Persnickety little buggersÂmakes me wonder if they take after Shih Tzus! They absolutely refuse certain companies' 'nectar' which drives me nuts after all the money I spent on them (yeah, I should just make my own, right? HA! With their taste buds? I don't THINK so! If Mike's Hummers are out there waiting to SAMPLE the juice, then you can imagine the divas in California! I think they've been observing the behaviour of Paris Hilton and the like a bit toooooo much).

Yeh, Mike, I have had that experience and I have also never had a prepared food that they would eat or drink. I have always had to "cook" my own and once almost had a house fire because I forgot that the sugar water was on the stove. I had gotten tired of buying what was billed as so good for them, like a health food formula only to have them turn it down and wait for me to put out the old boiled stuff of my own. Oh well, what we do for the little creatures we love so much who brighten our lives. I won't even start with my doggie. Murray

This recipe was given to me by the Lindsey Wildlife Museum.
They rescue and rehabilitate wild animals in our area.

Very simple.

1 cup of kettle boiled hot water
1/4 cup of sugar
Mix the two together in and let cool.

When you need it quick!
1/2 cup of kettle boiled hot water
1/4 cup of sugar
Mix the two together add 1/2 cup of crushed ice cubes
Mix well

For you, Miss Sherry :-)

Can you see me?
{{gwi:478965}}

Edna, great shot! Are those campanulas?

Murray, OMG, I had the same thing happen - a near house fire when I was cooking the hummer food. I forgot about it, and went to sleep sitting in my chair. One of my cats started going nuts and running back and forth thru the house, knocking stuff down. I woke up thinking what the heck is wrong with Bugsy? I then noticed the house was filled with smoke. The sugar mixture had completely burned down and smoke was everywhere.

Thank goodness for my kitty! He alerted me to the problem, and cats do have a stronger sense of smell that we humans.

Hummers appear to be very curious and unafraid of humans, once they have been in the garden for awhile and realize that we are just doing "our thing" while they are doing "theirs"! They put on quite a show and when I'm sitting on the front steps, will come up and just hover in front of me about 3' away, looking and cocking their heads, like "what are you"?

Susan

Black-chinned Hummers are year-round residents here in Las Vegas, and some years a few Anna's, Costa's and Rufous also winter-over here. So I do keep one feeder out for them all winter. During the winter months they regularly perch on the Yucca's and Creosote that grow right against a south facing wall of my house during the coldest times to get extra radiated heat from both the house and the landscape rock (the quail and morning doves under them on the landscape rock to do the same). Winter 2006 was one of those rare years when we got a snowstorm, and it was enough to lie on the ground for about 3 days. So my visitors set up permanent camp around my feeders for several days. I go out and sit on that patio often, maybe a dozen and a half times a day even in winter to watch the critters that come to my feeders and who have become very comfortable with me. With the snowstorm that year, the hummers had changed their perch to right on the sunny portion of the concrete patio on that side right against the house, I think because the snow melted their first and to get even more warmth. The dominate bird in the assortment was an adult Costa's with a beautiful large purple gorget with those very long extensions that swept back like jet wings over the shoulders. He had been around for many weeks, and "buzzed" me often right in my face as if to say hello. About the second or third time I went out that first snowy day and sat down, he flew right to my face as usual for a bit, and then landed on the arm of my chair next to my arm. In between the mad dashes to protect "his" feeder, he stayed there until I finally got up to go in. That ended up being his perch, and he used it the rest of the winter until he disappeared when it warmed up that spring. When I would go out, he'd fly up and hover about head high until I sat down, then would land and settle in next to my arm. Didn't matter if I moved around, was talking on the cell, drinking a drink, etc, that was his perch and he "allowed" me to share it with him for about 3 months. Was a fun experience as the hummers are more skittish in winter than they are in summer when they will land on a finger, a shoulder or even my head when I am out there refreshing their feeders.

Larry

It's a Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove). Here's another shot.
{{gwi:431117}}

Very special moments you share with your hummingbirds, Larry. I can't even get close enough to photograph mine and he's been here for over a year. They built a nest in my ash tree but a scrub jay made short work of that. I do not like scrub jays.

Susan, I did something similar but I don't think I fell asleep but was just sitting in the livingroom and may have even gone outside for a moment but I remember seeing the reflection of the flames in my window and was totally freaked out by the sight. I was really upset to think of how quickly something as potentially life-threatening can happen so quickly. Thank God for bugsy.

Larry, what a wonderful even though brief relationship you were treated to by that hummer. I always feel so privileged when a wild creature accepts you like that. It has also made me sad many times to think about the fact that everything in nature regards us as suspicious and dangerous. The way all animal activity stops and freezes when a human appears on the scene and we need a covering before they resume their tasks.

It sounds like you get a blessing of "remoteness" where you live so animals get a chance to get used to your presence. That must be wonderful. Where I am you can hear when your neighbor sneezes. Murray

Edna, that is a gorgeous foxglove, but I don't have very much luck growing them in Oklahoma. I've tried several cultivars, and the species mertonensis (Strawberry; perennial). I thought foxglove when I first saw it, and then saw you are in zone 9. I didn't know think they would grow well in the warmer zones. Maybe you have cooler nighttime temps? It looked like 'Camelot Rose' when I first saw it.

Susan

Here is some action from my yard last summer..
Hope y'all enjoy.. :)
Greetings
Susanne(SUE)

{{gwi:478967}}
{{gwi:478969}}
.......
{{gwi:478971}}
{{gwi:478973}}
...

Yes it is nice to earn the trust of most of the critters who visit my place and feeders. Many long and enjoyable hours are spent almost daily just sitting on one of my patios and watching them go about their lives. It's fun to get to know their personalities too, and there are many individuals I easily recognize just because of each of their personalities.

But it isn't always all nice and simple around here... Sometime around 3 AM yesterday morning I was one of two in an extremely rare occurance when a lone coyote attacked me without provocation just down the road from my place. The pack of six I tangled with right in my front yard one night almost 2 years ago paled in comparison to this time. For a few long moments it wasn't clear who was going to win this fight.

It also gets a little hairy sometimes when I go out at night and nearly step on a rattlesnake in bare or slippered feet, especially if it's a nasty Mojave Green. Have learned to let my eyes adjust to the dark some before I step out of the house or go wandering around at night, and I do pay attention to "dark spots" on otherwise lighter colored ground. I have also been dive bombed several times by owls at night on my place.

Being a night owl who is often up most of the night probably gets me into more situations than if I was in bed sleeping with sugar plums dancing in my head like normal folks. I'm also an early riser who believes the sun wouldn't come up if I wasn't outside to enjoy that magical hour of predawn and sunrise, and am a big fan of the deserts beautiful red sunsets. So I don't sleep much.

L.

OMG, Larry! Do coyotes get diseases that you might need to have a tetanus or rabies injections? I'm not that familiar with them. I just remember a guy in my old home town who used to go out and actively catch them. When they were corraled, he used a chain with a broom handle attached so he could keep them at a distance. I witnessed this one day, and they seemed so vicious. I know they were probably just frightened out of their wits, but wild animals are just that - wild animals.

Hope you're okay!

Susan

Wow, Larry, that sounds very scary. With my age-related vision problems like the macular degeneration I would have to wear high boots and carry a lantern or a flashlight going out at night. I am also up half the night lately with insomnia that doesn't seem to be relieved by long daily walks and workouts. But I unfortunately can't get up early anymore because of it. And I was always a morning person so I hate missing out on that much of the daylight hours. Nice that you can do both. Murray

This makes me truly thankful that I live in the city. The only wild animal I'm likely to run into is a possum! They tend to freeze when a light is directed at them.

Please let us know how you're doing, Larry!

Susan

So many posts on this thread... but I wanted to respond to Susan's. I also noticed a mockingbird in my yard doing that puffed up trick with it's wings. It was doing it on the ground. My husband said it was to scare insects out of hiding. I'm not sure if it was that or a mating dance.
Hummingbirds... I make my own nectar with the usual 1:4 solution, I never boil it, I make extra and keep it in the fridge door so I always have refills immediately available. The hummers don't mind it chilled at all.
I planted nicotania this year from seed, the marshmallow variety, having no idea how big it gets. I planted it in the front of my bed, and it has really taken over. I have never seen any hummers or BF at it. It is a very unique plant though.

I've seen mockingbirds doing the puffed up wings thing, Susan, also the dance where one hops forwards, backwards or sideways, and the other one follows with it so that they stay the same distance apart - looks sort of like a line dance. :) Mockers are very aggressive, too - I've seen them dive bomb cats, dogs, and snakes!
My male hummers are always entertaining, with the courtship dances they do for the females. The funniest thing is the way they court chickadees during the week or ten days when they first get here before the females have arrived - I guess they just pick the smallest bird they can find and court them!
I saw two palamedes swallowtails doing their dance today. I love seeing that, the way they dance around and stay so close together for such a long time.
Edna, I love those bees in flowers! You should see my buttonbush! It's gotten big, and it's blooming now with bees all over it!
I'd be scared to death to tussle with cayotes, Larry! They live around here, and some people have seen them, fortunately, I haven't. I think I've heard groups of them "singing" or howling.
I'm very lucky to live out here in the country/woods where wildlife is plentiful.
I don't know if you'd call this funny, but caterpillars sure amuse me with some of the strange places they pick to pupate. A palamedes and a tiger swallowtail are both pupating now under the foam rubber that I put on the bottom of their cage, a fairly common occurrence. I always cut out the section of foam where the pupators are located after they've become a chrysalis and hardened, then put them in a proper place and position in the cage. Don't they worry about how they're going to get out of there when they emerge?
{{gwi:478976}}
Sherry

I truly don't want to bum anyone out regarding the mockingbirds but I have come to dislike them around the yard because they love to attack and eat tiger swallowtails (Papilio rutulus) and Anise Swallowtails (Papilio zelicaon). I have found the remains of the butterflies but didn't put the two together until I watched it happen myself. I know they have to eat but I don't like seeing them ever since.

Susan, Murry, MissSherry -

Coyotes (like most predators in NA) are in fact not aggressive toward people normally, and will instead cower and run away if you stand your ground with them. Without getting even farther off topic why, lets just leave it at I know a lot about predators and dangerous game, and having spent so much of my life in the wilds I have had way more than my fair share of close encounters and near misses with variuos species of them all over the world, including many that I wouldn't have come out on top with in an actual conflict.

So I think their is little doubt that this coyote (or coydog) was sick. Mange doesn't normally make them bold, so a good guess would be rabies. And this one was way beyond bold... hair standing on end, tail up, teeth bared, growling and popping its teeth at me from 3'. Luckily I didn't get bit, just some bruised knuckles and a cut palm from my keyring when I put the fist on the bridge of its snout as hard as I could and knocked it into the blacktop. That was just instinct after being around them all my life, but those "long moments" came into play when it got back to its feet, eyed me in a defensive pose for some time while deciding if it wanted to try for round two. It didn't and finally turned tail and left. Next day I found a canine and another tooth on the road it lost in the conflict. I also called animal control to advise them there was probably a rabid coyote running the neighborhood (and since they know me from the ADC I have done for the city I am sure they believed me).

BTW, being in the city means squat when it comes to coyotes and other predators. They are common on the golf course and residential streets here, and EVEN turn up in places like downtown New York City and other big cities. When prey numbers are low in their natural habitat, they just come into town for easy prey like pet cats, small dogs, or in my case for my cottontails/quail.

Maybe I better add... Don't try this at home. I know as much about their life histories as I do the leps and have a lot of ADC experience with them, so do know how to handle them. It was just easier when younger and when I moved faster. LOL

L.

Whew - I can certainly relate to not moving as fast anymore, with osteoarthritis fast getting a grip on my former lithe body. LOL!

We have a lot of wild animals throughout Oklahoma, lots of the bigger cats, coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, and a number of rattlesnake species, copperheads, and cottonmouth snakes.

I do not see any of these around here. Just opossum. If you move further to the outskirts of Oklahoma City, there are raccoons that raid the dempsy dumpsters. When I was living in the suburb of Edmond, I opened one to throw my trash bag inside, and there was a raccoon curled up in a corner! That's it for my close encounter with a wild animal.

I'm glad you're okay, Larry!

Susan

Wow a Dempsy Dumpster, I haven't thought about those since I was stationed in New Jersey at the army base. My best memory of a Demsy Dumpster is the first night in basic training when I went outside the barracks at dusk and stood behind the dumpster and cried. Aren't you glad I did not make the military my career? If we had to depend on the likes of my we'd be through as a nation altogether.

Glad you know what you're doing Larry and are okay. It probably was a rabies case though because as you say, they are not normally aggressive toward people. We have them out here too and I know they have been seen at the state park where I walk my dog. The wild canids are fascinating to me and have always been among my favorite forms of wildlife. I think wolves and butterflies top my list. Murray

There is a girl on our Oklahoma Gardening forum that has wolves as pets. She's had them for a very long time.

Yeah, Murray, we still have the Dumpsters scattered all over the city and surrounding towns behind businesses usually, and apartment complexes. Since I bought a house in 1998, I now have what they refer to as "Big Blues" - large trash cans on wheels. I just have to cart them out to the curb every Monday night for Tuesday morning pick up.

The Silver-Spotted Skipper patrols my yard and tries to scare off the other butterflies. Of course, he's not always successful, but he tries.

Susan

Today, I was watching two Papilio rutulus, presumably males duking it out over the butterfly bush and I could just about hear the verbal threats like, "If you want to keep those tails buster I suggest you find another bush." And the retort, "Just what do you think you're going to do about it if I don't?" And then maybe, "Yeah? You and how many skippers?"

Murray, your dialogue with the Papilios is too funny!

I should have posted my Bluejay encounter on this thread.

Susan

I will have to check out your encounter. But really, I mean what can a butterfly possibly do to another butterfly? What is the little thing gonna' do?, put a kink in the other guy's proboscis? (sp?) And hummets too, I mean really the idea of a so-called 'bull hummingbird'!