Tiny Hummie Hearts

Only two hummingbirds in the garden today...and this shot was a lot of pure luck.  I was trying to focus on the bird as he perched on some phlox in the garden and was clicking the shutter just as he took flight.  So, while this shot is not 100% sharp, it's good enough for today.  Plus, I needed help awarding TinyTuesday hearts and HM's.  

I am posting the results a day earlier than usual only because I am going to be gone all day tomorrow and didn't want to make everyone wait until Friday.  Not surprisingly, I had a difficult time narrowing down my favorites.  In fact, by middle of the day yesterday, I knew it was going to be a very tough choice, so I awarded a couple of hearts early.  In no particular order, these are my personal picks for this week and either have been or will be awarded Hummie Hearts:
Paladian  for a really cool shot of a wee jumping spider enjoying a meal
JensPhotos For a beautifully photographed leafhopper
Evolybab for an amazingly detailed and fancy beetle
Osuzanna for one of her signature insect macros with bonus water droplets
Gennepher for a really well-done macro using an iPhone - perfect background bokeh
Gaia's Child for a spectacular macro of a tiny ant

And I only wish I had more hearts for the following images...but Hummie Honorables go to...
WalkingWombat (and if you don't know, this lovely lady is the founder of Tiny Tuesday!)
Stiffknees
Lizellen
Tiebreaker
DaveC
Neale55
RHelena (Honestly, I burst out laughing when I saw this - so clever)
RedFlash
Hanulli
mmp26

If you haven't yet looked at all the TT entries this week, what are you waiting for??

Hubs left for Alabama this morning - a very long drive for him, about 900 miles.  But it's over time for a visit with his mom.  The house feels rather empty knowing he's gone.

Monarch #64 emerged this morning and he's just been set out in the garden in the sun.  I released #63 (from yesterday afternoon) mid-morning after she'd had a chance to warm up a bit.  Looks like it will be a few days until the remaining 8 are ready to enter the world as butterflies.  I did take a few pics of 64 this morning and posted one shot on Flickr - a close up showing the scales on his wings - to me, it looks like a tapestry.  

The last walk of the year with my naturalist group is tomorrow and we're headed a couple of hours south to the NJ shore where I expect we'll see many shore birds and hopefully some warblers.  It will be a long day, but I'm sure we'll have a great time - and the weather is supposed to be warm and sunny.  

Happy Hump Day, people.
Debbi

PS:  and in Extra - a Ruby-crowned kinglet who showed up in the yard late this afternoon, the first of the fall migration of this species and YardBird #56 for me.