The monarch activity has begun to wane as September winds down, and really enjoyed their visits over the last several weeks. Sometimes several monarchs were active at once, along with the birds, bees, moths and other creatures . . .

"The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side . . . I'm racking my brain and just can't figure it out. Okay, back to busting some dead wood!"

As if from an action movie, this little ruby was hovering just below the flower and it slowly rose above the edge of the flower, staring right through me with those ruby eyes, right into my soul, daring me to try and capture its essence . . .

I admire your luck sir, what is your name? "Finch. Gold Finch. And I'll have a martini. Shaken, not stirred."

"The R.O.U.S. really do exist Mr. Goldfinch, now get thee hence from this tree so I can save us all!"

A Wood Duck hen and Eclipse male flying from stream to pond on a late summer day. The male is one of the most colorful ducks of North America in the spring, but he only retains the red eye and the colorful beak in late summer, his eclipse plumage.

A male American Goldfinch flew out of some pine trees north of me directly south to a group of sunflowers, and while in flight a small bird came out of the meadow and flew right by its side and landed with the male on a sunflower . . .

"Woohoo for National Hummingbird Day!" hoots our little feathered friend, a juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Look at that beautiful start to his gorget, and no doubt he will someday sport a beautiful full ruby throat to help him attract a mate as well as defend his territory . . .

"Our conductor for today is Li'l Miss Ruby, and before she heads south for her winter residency in South America, she graciously agreed to lead our flowers in beautiful arrangements of In The Garden and Flight of the Bumblebee. Enjoy!" Ah one, Ah two, Ah three . . .

She doesn't have all of the flash and color of many other birds, but when this female blackbird took a perch on this white goosefoot plant facing the morning sun, I couldn't resist a capture. With the sun on her face and striking a pose, I say you look just beautiful!