Pollinator Week - Ruby-throated Hummingbird

It had to be a hummingbird today, definitely one of the most charismatic of all the pollinators in my garden.  There are at least a dozen zooming around the garden, between feeders and flowers, chattering and chasing one another.  This is a female, probably this year's brood.  Although hummingbirds catch and eat small insects, a large part of their diet is flower nectar, making them excellent pollinators.

One tipped flower pot this morning, but hardly any dirt on the patio, so I think the hot pepper flakes did exactly what they were meant to do in terms of discouraging the raccoon/s.  A pot on the deck - that didn't have pepper flakes, didn't fare quite as well.  Lesson learned.

Had a great phone visit with my parents this morning; and now MIL is over for the afternoon and dinner.

I have officially started this year's Monarch Project and have about a dozen tiny caterpillars that just "hatched" along with two that are about an inch long.  I will be checking my milkweed patch shortly for eggs since I saw a monarch drifting along over the yard a while ago.  One of the eggs I brought in Friday had already been parasitized by a tiny wasp.  I put the leaf with the bad egg in a baggie and will see how long it takes the wasps to emerge.  There is danger every step of the way for Monarchs, as well as many other butterflies and moths.  

I may add one more day to my Pollinator Week Challenge since I haven't yet blipped a bee for the series.  Stay tuned...

xo
Debbi