January was full of cold, rainy days. Sometimes when it’s not feasible to venture out in the mornings, I make up for it by taking the Beast to the backyard in the afternoon. The yard is full of interesting visitors at this time of year!

A Northern Mockingbird saw me setting up my tripod. He moved to the top of my tallest bush to supervise the crazy photographer. At least he didn’t chase me off like does with the birds who eat “his” berries!

My little Orange-crowned Warbler is back this winter. I find him most often on my salvias and porterweeds, where I think he drinks the nectar from the flowers. But on this particular afternoon, he was hanging out in the hummingbird bush.

So was this male Painted Bunting. We have more males than usual this winter, which makes for colorful flurries of feathers around the bird feeder. I’ve looked out to see 6 males at the feeder at a time!

This little Palm Warbler was hunting for bugs on the grass. He seemed to like that I had just mowed the lawn. One of these days I’m going to get him in mid-leap as he pulls his snack from mid-air.

We still have hummingbirds! I see this male most often, but I am seeing a female pretty consistently too. I wonder if this could be “Zippy” all grown up from last year. It’s certainly fun to think that he came back!

A perched hummer is fun, but a hummer photographed in flight is even better…look at that red gorget! A great end to my backyard photo session!