Ruby Jewel

I entered the pond area through the southwest corner entrance, turned north and stopped fairly quickly in a small patch of shade. The place was filled with bird songs, more than I could separate from the each other. I didn’t want to disturb them.

The sun, shining from my left, was reflecting off the golden grasses which remained from last Autumn. Still holding fast to their seeds, they were drawing in Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks which I could hear clicking not far ahead of me. I hoped they would emerge into the sunlight and I could get a decent shot, so I aimed my camera and waited.

Robert graciously mows a path to support my travel around our property in my golf cart. That cut patch of grass draws in birds that hunt for insects, grubs and worms on the ground, and I was surprised to see a pair of Northern Cardinals doing just that at the far end just before the path turns hard to the left to negotiate around a small inlet on the west side of the pond.

I noticed that the Milkweed plants at the pond’s edge were beginning to bloom. They would draw insects of all sorts to take advantage of their nectar and to pollinate these very important plants. What I thought might be a hummingbird flitting around the flowers turned out to be a butterfly, rather than a bird.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a bird fly into a tree not far ahead of me. It was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We live at the very southern end of its breeding zone, and while I haven’t looked back in my files over the past few years to verify my memory, I don’t recall ever filming this species here except during the Spring and Fall migrations.

The handsome bird only remained in the tree for a minute or so before it flew off. Lucky for me, it landed nearby in the stand of Milkweed. While I tried to get a good shot, in most of the photos I had focused on some thin, weed stems rather than the bird. Still. I find this image rustic and artistic.

Fortunately, the bird moved and I got control over my focal point, allowing me to take these shots of the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak eating what I thought were the Milkweed flowers. Upon closer review of the files, the bird had nabbed a Milkweed beetle, not the flower.