As you might have been able to tell, reading from the other post that I published just today, I had about given up hope for any real excitement in the yard.  I was very premature!

While sitting in the yard this afternoon, suffering through back spasms that have plagued me since Sunday,  I noticed a female Anna's hummingbird.  A few minutes later a male appeared, but try as I might on it's 3-4 visits I just couldn't get a photo of it.  I had some good, fleeting opportunities but the female Rufous hummingbirds, which were continually sparring among themselves, were even more aggressive towards the male Anna's.  It was frustrating!

I think I obtained some of my best hummingbird photos this afternoon, but that thought is not especially unusual.  Every time I take hummingbird photos I seem to think they are better than the last batch.  Whether they are or not is a subject of subjective conjecture.

Here are some of today's hummingbird photos...

Two different photos of what is probably the same female Rufous hummingbird.  (At one time this afternoon I saw four females accessing this crocosmia bush... which they love!

Another female Rufous hummingbird...

Hmmmm...  I believe that this may be a juvenile male Anna's hummingbird.  You can see a gorget that is beginning to form but it isn't completely developed yet.  (If anyone feels like providing input I'm always open to comments and suggestions!)

So the afternoon was a little more exciting than I had expected!  But it was far from over!  About 3pm something in the sky overhead caught my attention and I looked up to see two Ospreys, as Rodgers and Hammerstein penned, "making lazy circles in the sky".  I was somewhat more prepared than the last time they visited and I managed to shoot them at a much lower ISO and therefore obtained a much better photo...

But I was also puzzled, because with the Osprey was another raptor that wasn't an Osprey, even though it seemed to be accompanying them.  I was fairly sure it was a falcon but couldn't verify that with my naked eye.  I took several photos which again turned out quite nicely.  My original guess was that this was a Merlin, but I was wrong.  Two different readers, one who is an expert on Merlins, identified it as a Peregrine falcon.

 That was enough excitement for one day... but it wasn't over yet.  While I was upstairs processing the day's photos my wife called out that there was a male Western tanager in the watercourse.  I hobbled downstairs as quickly as I could but by the time I grabbed my camera and got outside it was gone.  However I saw around in the yard for some time and the bird made three more appearances.  I did obtain one photo (a record shot) but you won't see it here.

Thought for today:  If you believe in reincarnation and want to come back as a hummingbird, don't come back as a female Rufous.  The males are only around for a matter of weeks and then leave the female to raise the young!  

All in all, it was a day that far exceeded my expectations!