High Fliers in the Garden

It's a very wet season here in Central Texas, but that has not slowed down some of the more frequent fliers in my garden.

My newest visitor is a bright red dragonfly called Neon Skimmer (Libellula croceipennis).

He's beautiful and eats so many pests, I hope to see some dragonfly nymphs in my container water garden soon.

I have two hummingbird feeders in my back garden. They are very popular with several different species of hummingbird. Below you can see a pair of male and female Black-chinned Hummingbirds sharing the same feeder.

The murkiness of the sugar water let's me know it's time for a fresh batch. It's an easy recipe of four parts water to one part sugar.

Once the male flew away, the little female finally found some peace to drink.

She took her time to drink her fill...

Then she buzzed past my camera.

The butterflies are enjoying both nectar and larval plants. This Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) spent at least an hour checking out my Milkweed and Pentas lanceolata.

"But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire."
~Robert Frost, "Blue-Butterfly Day"