Our Prolific Backyard

When I see on photographer's posts what is their favorite location for their photography a  lot of them say their own backyard.  That's the case with Walt as we have a profusion of activity in the summertime.  Me?....I simply sit back and enjoy!

View from the patio.

Walt obviously has a green thumb and has planted a beautiful perennial flower garden in the back with mountain sage, salvia (hard to see behind the sage), rudbeckia, canna and a few sunflowers for good measure in the back. 

Unbeknownst to me, this brings out the profusion of bees and butterflies.  This year we had a new visitor.

The problem as a bee is if you are bigger than the flower, landing is a very delicate process.  

But it's not impossible, particularly when the reward is nectar!

Lots of color from the butterflies - wonder why that is - that butterflies have lots of color - more to ponder while sitting in the garden.

We had a really elegant visitor the other day - a black swallowtail.  

But by far the most exotic visitor to our yard was the clearwing hummingbird moth.  I tried to get several photos, but it's the video that's so revealing.  At first, I thought it was a baby hummingbird, but it had antennae and not a beak but a long tongue that reached in to get the nectar.  I did get a great video.