Welcome to Fern Valley

Here in central Alberta prime farm country,my husband Martin and I work together raising beef cattle and Appaloosa horses. Fern valley appaloosas have long been known for their quality of temperament conformation and color.I have recently rediscovered a love of writing and have published 2 collections of poetry. "Telling Tails" and Tails Trails and Campfire stories" . I look forward to a future spreading my wings as an author and as a horse woman .

Tuesday 24 July 2012

A rare treat

I came home from work today and saw a dragon fly  resting on the shade curtain of my gazebo.I love dragonflies! they eat mosquitoes and they are so pretty!  So I took my cell phone out to take a picture of it ,

Lucky I did, because I was in for a special treat! 
As I walked  up to the door I heard the familiar humm of my little hummingbird coming to the feeder, or so I thought . I am always hoping to get a picture so I sat down with the camera on on my phone.
Next thing I knew I had ,not 1, not 2, but 3! under the gazebo with me! 



Sadly , the cell  does not take the best pictures of a moving object, I never got all 3 in the shot, but I sure enjoyed the show! they darted around , sparing and  taking turns rushing back to the feeder!

 2 in this shot if you look closely 
 Then I went in and got my trusty little Lumix, and proceeded to sit and wait. 
Patience, as it usually does, paid off , to a degree, I only got pictures of one of them , a mottled grayish green 
 but I got pictures
 the others are a red throated one , and one with a green back
 but for now 
 we have this one 
 and she (?) seemed to like having her picture taken!
 will keep trying for photos of the others, but,meanwhile,I can close my eyes and see the little dance I witnessed in my minds eye , anytime. I so wish I could share it ! 

Stay safe!

17 comments:

Reddunappy said...

Love Hummingbirds!

I stepped up on our patio the other day and there is a flower planter on each side of me. There were two Hummers eating from the flowers, they kept flying around me, one even came up to eye level and checked me out! LOL They are so funny!! They were less than 2 feet away!!

Cheyenne said...

That is SO COOL! I bet people who aren't from Alberta don't realize HOW COOL that is! I have hardly seen one in my lifetime. You got some great photos too!

Shirley said...

You got some nice shots! Silly hummer at my place ignored the feeder and checked out the Christmas lights along the eaves. I have plenty of flowers and a full feeder, but can't get the little rascals to come around regularly.

Ami said...

Great photos. :)

I love those little guys, Lyssa has planted Menarda all around the place and they love it.

One of 'my' kids can't say hummingbird. He calls them 'honeybirds'.

Isn't that sweet?

GoLightly said...

I love my ruby-throated hummers. If the feeder runs out, BOY, do they let me know.
Being dived bombed by a hungry hummer is a daunting sound. Like a volkswagen sized bumble-bee:)
They ALWAYS make me jump, even when I know they're about to "attack".

Cut-N-Jump said...

We have a few humminbirds at our place too. I keep the feeder full and they will dive bomb you if you are out on the porch. I hate that. They don't ever touch you or anything, just whiz past your head at light speed with an insanely loud buzzzzzzzzz to freak you out. I think they do it because they can.

Glad you got the pic's. Somewhere in my cell phone I have pic's of our little hummers too. A few with red a few with a bright green and they had a nest going in the one tree 'til the last storm took it out. The tree, not the nest. I hope there were no eggs in the nest.

kestrel said...

Pretty little hummers, even if they are a cross between an x wing fighter and a kamikaze. I had to move the feeders farther apart, since one little piggie wears himself out chasing everyone off 'his' feeders!

Crystal said...

I miss seeing them, my Grammas cabin always had feeders out and lots of hummers around, but none around here.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

I had no idea that dragonflies eat mosquitoes. Now I really love them even more! Such great photos! It's so difficult to take photos of hummers...they are fast!
What a magical experience for you!

~Lisa

kden said...

Those shots are great, I'm jealous! I've never been able to draw hummers in so I just feed the sparrows :-( But they're fat happy sparrows :-)

Have you ever seen a hummingbird moth? They are freaky looking little things.

aurora said...

What a treat, lucky you - three different hummers together is rare! Absolutely love these tiny birds!!

I am no bird expert, but I've read their sugar water is better for them without added red coloring. My little guys come back every year, and don't like to share their feeder - they chase each other away.

I feel so bad, I always buy hanging fuschia baskets for them to enjoy - but couldn't find any decent ones this year. Must be a tough year for them with our drought, a lot less flowers means a lot less nectar - guess they all flew up by you :)

Buttons Thoughts said...

Hello Sherry from Ride a good horse said you were a fellow cow whisperer so I thought I better check out your blog. I love you dragon fly pic. The hummingbird shots are awesome. B

C-ingspots said...

Just beautiful! We don't see a lot of hummers in our yard, guess I've not planted the right kind of flowers to attract them. Always a treat though! And dragonflys, oh my!! I am NOT a bug fan...but I adore dragonflys!! They are so cool!!
Hope your summer's going well Sherry.

GoLightly said...

14th, for Hummers and dragonflies. Fire-flies and dragonflies are my own personal favourite bugs..

Linda said...

Awesome! I haven't seen one yet this year. I think we might have been within coffee distance of your place on Tuesday. I wish I had thought of it before we breezed through and called.

Nicole said...

Great shots! how super cool!

Janice said...

You did a lot better catching them than I ever have. Winston is making me envious. I'm not a huge fan of Chickens and Pigs either. Nice you guys look after each other though.That Harley is a looker.