Rufous Hummer

I got him! I finally got a photo of our resident winter hummingbird. He is quite skittish and whenever I go outside he flies away or hides behind the orchid tree where I cannot get his photo, so this is a thru-the-window shot at maximum zoom, but here he is:

Wintering Hummingbird!

We have a wintering hummingbird in the garden again this year! The hubby had mentioned he had seen a hummingbird around the last several weeks and so I put out fresh nectar in the hummingbird feeders. Today I finally caught a glimpse of him. It is, as I suspected, a Rufous hummingbird. I tried to get a photo, but he flew away. I'll keep trying to capture a photo and post it up if I get one.

Last time we had a wintering hummingbird in my garden was in 2008. If I recall correctly, that was a warmer than normal Winter as well:

http://thesuniskillingme.blogspot.com/2008/01/hummingbirds-in-winter.html

Bloom Day - December 15, 2010

December bloom day. Happy Holidays to everyone! Garden holiday decorations, Texas-style:



As opposed to the rest of the country, it has been fairly warm so far this year (thanks to La Niña) and we have only had a few light freezes in my garden despite the dire warnings of hard freezes. As a result, I do have some blooms. They are a bit scraggly due to the frosts, but blooming.

Turks cap:



Rain Lily (I watered the other day as it is pretty darn dry and crispy out there):





Pink Skullcap:



Rock Penstemon:



Yellow Flax:



Autumn Crocus. (As I am viewing these crocus on my blog here, with the flax above, it occurs to me these would look wonderful planted next to each other. I am making a note of that for next year.):



Meyer Lemon blossoms (My goodness, these smell wonderful right now!!):



Japanese Aralia blossom:



And finally the christmas cactus is finishing up blooming:



Happy bloom day everyone!