Wildbird Wednesday: Yellow GoldFinches

Another reason I love zinnias is they attract Yellow Goldfinches or as we like to call them, Canary birds.
Yellow Goldfinches are fun bits of sunshine playing in the zinnia patch.

Wishing you all sunshine and fun.

 

edited in 7-13-2019: I was talking to my husband about the yellow finches and he casually mentioned to me that they’re called ‘Goldfinches’ . So, I thought I should update this post with the right name in case someone might want to research them further. 😉

 


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Stormy Wednesday – Shelibean – Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal

We’re in the midst of storms. It storms awhile and then stops awhile then repeats. I appreciate the rain, but the glay-gloomy cloud cover not so much. The thunder clashing, lightning flashing, rain pounding and the electricity flicking off and on just ruins Shelibean’s day. He sports his thunder-shirt and lays under a blanket as close to me as he can get. Bless his heart.

Here’s a photo of Sheli in his thunder-shirt that I took earlier this month. He was acting unsettled that day and I put his t-shirt on him and it calmed him. His thunder shirt is a neck tube with two slits cut for his front legs and a u shaped dip cut out from the bottom side to keep him getting it wet when he tinkles. As you can see, it’s a little big in the neck area and hangs low, but Sheli doesn’t seem to mind and it still serves the purpose. Shelibean’s home-fashioned thunder shirt has been a big help in keeping him more calm when he gets scared or unsettled.Here’s a few photos of a bright and fun couple that visits my herb bed alot. I think they’re cheerful bits of color to share on this gray gloomy day.

Wishing you all a cheerful Wednesday.

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Male Cow-Killer Ant

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Male Red Velvet Ant

redvelvethMy photo for the ‘2015 WP Weekly Photo Challenge – Vivid’ is a female cow-killer or red velvet ant. In the post I mentioned that they’re actually wasps. The female is a wingless wasp and has a painful sting.
The male looks similar to the female only with black wings and the males doesn’t sting.
The male in the photo is the first one that I’ve had the opportunity to photograph. He’s a smidge smaller than the female and quite fast with his wings.

*You can read more about red velvet ants at Orkin’s website:
http://www.orkin.com/ants/cow-killer-ant/