Garden 'Tour for a Cure' ~ Part 2

Female Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Please click the "Tour" blog banner up on the right side of my blog for a look at many wonderful gardens this week! Yesterday I posted a few photos of flowers from my garden in Eagle, Idaho; today here are a few photos of some of the backyard birds that have come to visit. Click on the individual photos for a much closer look at these beautiful creatures! From the time I was little, I have loved wild birds. My parents had a little mountain cabin in the southern California mountains when I was growing up, and my dad always had feeders out for the squirrels and birds. I remember taking many trips with him up to the little general store and helping him scoop bird seed and crushed peanuts into bags to take back to the cabin. We'd lay peanuts out on the porch railing for the squirrels and often, the stellar blue jays would swoop down and steal them. I discovered that, if I threw a peanut up high, a blue jay would catch it in mid air. This was a fun game for me. Wherever I've lived as an adult, I've made sure I've had bird feeders so our little friends would have a place to feel welcome. My favorites are the hummingbirds. My parents just loved those birds and we always had them come and drink from the little bottles hanging from our patio cover rafters when I was a child. Ah, sweet memories . . .

Female and Male Housefinches


Male Yellow-headed Blackbird


Male House Sparrow, Mourning Dove


Black-chinned Hummingbird


Male American Goldfinch


Black billed Magpie


Hummingbird drinking from my Butterfly Bush