Mono Monday - Soft

Whenever I see bumble bees, there is a part of me that really wants to touch them, just to see if they are as soft and fuzzy as they look.  And, on a few chilly mornings, when they aren't moving fast, I've actually done that - and guess what?  They ARE soft and fuzzy!  Anyway, when I read JDO's description of this week's challenge, I was hoping I'd find a nice fuzzy bumble bee in my garden.  Since most of my perennials aren't blooming just yet, I don't have that many pollinators buzzing around ... but I finally found this one and she was so focused on her mission that I was able to take quite a few shots.  I fiddled a bit with this one (low key and then soft focus in PS Elements)  Figured I'd have two different "takes" on the soft theme here - the soft bee and the soft focus.  And it was fun!

Things are buzzing in the garden ... whenever the swallow female leaves the nest box now, the male comes and clings to the outside of the box just outside the entrance, guarding it, until she returns.  Interesting behavior.  There is a male bluebird checking out the other box out front and he's been singing most of the day - I am keeping fingers and toes crossed on that - it would be a first for me to have bluebirds!  Papa wren is guarding two boxes - one will have the "real" nest and the other is a dummy nest, meant to distract predators.  Wish I could be certain which one they are using as I'd like to clean out the other one...

More butterflies are showing up now - saw a Great Spangled Fritillary, a Banded Hairstreak and what I think is a zabulon skipper.  I also saw a silver spotted skipper chasing a hummingbird - not the first time I've seen that happen, but always a bit of a surprising sight.

More and more hummers are buzzing around the garden  now so when I am outside, the whir of wings and angry chatter is all around me.  Utterly delightful.

I posted six other photos in Flickr starting HERE with a shot of a hummer in flight - taken with my 105 macro!  That's a first for me...

Garden notes:  the red bee balm finally has big buds on it and should bloom in the next few days.  No buds yet on the phlox which seems very late to me; also no buds on the pink bee balm. The coneflowers in the native garden are blooming; and the ones in the butterfly garden are getting close.  The damned dear ate the tops off all but two of my sunflowers, so I pulled them up and tossed them (the sunflowers, not the deer!)  Must remember to spray the anti-deer stuff more frequently next summer.  


TTFN, people...