Male Baltimore Oriole eating off a orange I put on a tree branch for them.

A male rose-breasted grosbeak from this spring

A Rufous hummingbird with his beautiful fanned-tail display.

This is a male Costa’s Hummingbird. I took this photo last week at the Desert Botanical Garden in Arizona. This perch was his favorite spot and he returned frequently.

I started my garden after my son had been killed by a drunk driver. Each year I add too it and strive to select flowers and trees that attract Butterflies, Bees, and Birds. As well as many other of God’s creatures. It has given me much peace and joy, and above all Hope. I have watched a Monarch unfold so beautifully from it’s cocoon, and many birds hatch and eventually fly miraculously from their nest. And each year I watch “monster” Bullfrog sit diligently by the pond. It is indeed a little bit of Heaven to me.

This is my back garden. It is very bird friendly. I have planted a large variety of native plants, many of which provide seeds and berries for the birds. There are many layers of both evergreens and deciduous trees and plants, which provide of coverage for wildlife. I use no chemicals in my yard, and provide nesting boxes, fresh water, and food throughout the year for my bird friends. I no longer deadhead anything until spring, and leave leaf littler throughout the yard. I enjoy watching the little ground feeders digging up insects and picking seeds off the plants all winter long.

Some of the natives present are, Alaska Cedar, Douglas Fir, Mountain Hemlock, Western Hemlock, Big-leaf Maple, Vine Maple, Blackcap Raspberry, Red Huckleberry, Evergreen Huckleberry, Wax Myrtle, Oregon Grape, Indian Plum, Kinnikinnick, Mock Orange, Ninebark, Oceanspray, Honeysuckle, Red Elderberry, Red Flowering Currant, Spiraea, Salal, Salmonberry, Serviceberry, Snowberry, Thimbleberry, Bleeding Heart, Sword Fern, False Lily of the Valley, False Solomon’s Seal, Fireweed, Trillium, and Native Blackberry.

A joy to behold each season, the Eastern Bluebirds who use the houses in my yard offer their fledgings meal worms and other tasty treats. The male and female stay equally busy, from nest building through fledging feedings and lessons.

Wood Thrush I photographed on a cloudy day as it singing its’ heart out for me.

This Red-breasted Nuthatch was a regular visitor to my feeder, however he always checked out who was on the feeder from the top of the feeder pole.

I haven’t lived in this part of the world for very long and last year I was still getting used to the kinds of birds that we might expect to turn up at the feeder. I was most surprised when a flock of pink(!) birds arrived in April – who knew that there was such a thing? Anyway, a little googling identified them for me as purple finches, although they are not really purple. I suppose pink finch sounds too girlie?

This photo was taken during a recent snow storm. It was a dreary, gray, cold day. Suddenly, I saw a spot of color in all the dreariness.

One February day these black noisy birds flocked to my feeders. Immediately I knew what they were *not* and needed to investigate further. I pulled out my Nikon with a 70-200 attached and starting taking photos. Matching photos to my trusty bird book revealed they were Common Grackles. They are considered “nuisance birds” but I couldn’t get over how lovely they are when the light hits “just right”. This Grackle was seeming to fiercely guard his spot on the deck against the much smaller finch who was flying in. I was quite enamored with them!

One might think that this Dark-eyed Junco needs to go on a diet, but no, he’s just trying to warm up on a cold winters day. As common as the Juncos are in our area, they are anything but boring. They are all beautiful in their own way.

One of a flock of Bohemian waxwings that found my crab apple tree one morning in mid November. This is the first time I had ever seen these beautiful birds in my area which is 180 miles north of Albany, NY. It was an amazing 20 minutes, the time of which it took them to devour every single piece of fruit on that tree. I was within 15 feet of them and they were flying around me like I was not even there.

One of my favorite photos of a Gray Catbird captured at John Heinz NWR in Philadelphia, PA. I was taking photos of the Catbird while it was grabbing berries and was lucky enough to capture this shot with the berry in mid air before the bird swallowed it!

This bird was photographed in an open field with low shrubs at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, Indiana. I could hear the Henslow’s singing from the field. I went in to the area and this bird perched up on the thorn bush, allowing for some excellent photography opportunities.

We’d been following a brood of leucistic bluebirds since they showed up at our feeders in the summer (2013) and did not expect them to survive long due to their coloring. We were quite surprised when they began showing up at our feeders in the winter. At least we knew that their coloring would help them survive until spring. We continue to spot one or two in our area, so we know a couple survived.

These four young raccoons were as surprised to see me as I was them!

I spotted this “lifer” while on Mt. Lemon, outside of Tucson, this past April.

I was captivated by this Carolina Chickadee, doubled nearly backwards while singing one morning in early fall.

While sitting in my ground blind, in the backyard, I caught this male Pileated woodpecker as he came down to the ground and headed over to the small pond, for a drink.

A male Baltimore Oriole enjoys a cooling bath. After years of putting out feeders and orange halves every spring, we finally had numerous pairs of these beautiful birds nest in our area. We enjoyed an entire season of feeding, bathing, and raising of the young here in our yard. A very nice experience for us.

Yellow-rumped Warbler with much excitement at the fountain.

Sweetiebird, the Anna’s Hummingbird, fed her chicks every half hour while I carefully photographed her. This was the third nest she had in our yard that summer and it wasn’t the last. She had four nests, each of which contained eggs before the chicks fledged from the older nest. The nests were all in different trees and about 25 ft apart form each other.

White-breasted Nuthatch feeding at LEGO Feeder.