The late evening sun bathes a Bumblebee in rim light as it buzzes to its next destination among the flowers.

Like a blue dart, this female Belted Kingfisher came barreling around the river bend and then put the brakes on and hovered briefly, then banked right and queen kingfisher continued on her hurried way down the river. Was really hoping she would see a snack in the river and dive, but not to be; maybe next time.

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 . . .

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

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!

Finally had a visit last week from one of my favorite little flying machines, a Hummingbird Clearwing sphinx moth. These 1 1/2 inch long pollinators can beat their wings up to 70 beats per second versus a Hummingbird of around 50 beats per second . . .

A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird flits by and hovers face-to-face for a couple of seconds, as if to be saying, "Oh yeah, I put the ruby in the Ruby-throated my friend!" and then continues on with his business.