Visitors

I did a little research, and at first I thought the hummingbirds that visit my feeder are Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. Their backs look green (at the right angle) and their throats have amazing red scales (also at the right angle). I guess the red scales are actually feathers, but they don't look like regular feathers. After a little more research, I read that ruby-throated hummingbirds are very rare in California. I looked at many pictures of hummingbirds, and all I can say is that my hummingbirds look like the female or the juvenile male of several different varieties.

Despite the red and green goodness, hummingbirds look plain old white/gray/black from underneath or from the side when the lighting isn't perfect. Not too exciting.

 

 Here are a couple where I got some of the green on their backs.

Here is the best I've got of the red on their throats.

And here is a hummingbird checking me out.

But hummingbirds aren't the only visitors to my porch.  I've also got flies that look like bees. I actually thought this was a bee at first.

 

But once I started looking at the pictures it took, I thought to myself: this bee's face looks more like a fly than a bee. Well, it turns out that there are flys that mimic bees. They fly differently, though. Bee mimic flies often hover in the air, and that's exactly what this fly does.

 

I think this is a younger version of the same type of fly.

Here is a regular house fly in comparison.

 

And here is a honey bee. I haven't seen very many bees this year on my porch. But this one was enjoying the basil blossoms.

 

We've also seen quite a few lizards this year. I've even wondered if there is a little lizard household in amongst a collection of pots on the porch because they always seem to run there. They are harder to photograph because they run as soon as they see you.

In other photography news, I'm taking Your Life Captured Through The Lens photography class from Katrina Kennedy. It's a lot of fun! I'm getting off manual mode and taking better pictures! Just what I've always wanted.