Birds and Butterflies

I've been stalking this fellow for about a week. He is either a rufous humming bird or an Allens. Both varieties are not too widespread across the States. From what I've been able to find out, some rufous spend summer down here whereas Allens humming birds can be found only along the California Coast. They move very fast and are very difficult to distinguish from one another -- especially the juveniles and females of each species which can scarcely be differentiated. However the male rufous has more brown on its back than green, so I'm going with the rufous for now. But I'll be keeping an eye on him in the weeks ahead, for any changes.


This young fellow is definitely a juvenile, (either house sparrow or house finch), because you can see his fluffy baby feathers. There are many juveniles around the feeders now, learning to fend for themselves. But sometimes they gorge themselves on so much seed that they don't have the strength to fly away. So they find a nearby branch or fence post, and take a nap. When they have rested -- and digested, away they fly. This one was napping on the fence outside the den window. He was there for about 15 minutes. I opened the window and stepped up close to him and he didn't even move. I was only about 3 or 4 feet away from him when I took this photo.
Such a cutie!



This is a Gulf Fritilliary. He is about 3 inches across. We had one last year and he was a little larger. He is the only red orange butterfly I have seen this year. But look under his wings...


...those white patches are actually metallic silver which just glitter in the sun. So this makes him a very handsome butterfly indeed.

And Bailey was oblivious to it all !!!