One of the things that we enjoy in our tiny backyard at The Aerie is feeding the birds. We have a couple of different feeders – one for seed that attracts all sorts of sparrow-like birds as well as some jays and another for the fairly rare (but seen) western orioles.
But by far, our favorite is the “never ending flower” that is our hummingbird feeder. Almost every evening we get our own little “Star Wars” show of hummers zipping around and jockeying for position to get at the feeder ports. They’re really not very good at sharing.
But over the summer, one female hummingbird in particular has taken up roost in our yard. She patrols the circuit of our flax plant, the feeder and our jacaranda tree. I got this picture of her as the sun was setting as she was hanging out on the flax.
She’s very protective of “her” feeder, but didn’t seemed all that concerned when this snake was making a beeline for our open patio door.
Eutaw’s near consumption (fortunately I stopped her!) of it however made it reconsider and head back to the canyon.
Stevil 
That's no small snake! You have a beautiful view.
I agree with jacolily… that is a freakin' anaconda you have there! I would have lost it and ran out the other door as fast as my short legs could carry me, letting Eutaw eat the thing!
Cool! My kids would be all over that wildlife. If they possibly could, they would catch the snake and keep it as a pet.
What a great view! But that there picture of the snake? That gives me the willies.
excellent photos. Not so fond of snakes, but as long as they move away from me I manage to maintain calm….good thing because they seem to be multiplying right now in Florida.
I love watching hummingbirds dart around. I haven't seen many in my area in years, but my husband and I were lucky enough to see one during the summer while we were at my sister's workplace (Henry Ford Estate). I think it was the first time my husband saw a hummingbird in person.
Thanks — we traded having a great view for having a really small yard… :)
I bet the GodDaughter wouldn't have run…
They could have TOTALLY caught the snake — i think it had a mini heart attack when Eutaw came over — it stayed still for several minutes and then decided it was time to high-tail it out of there.
Hi EnSue! We really enjoy them too — we're really lucky that they're pretty abundant in the southwest…:)
aw, the snake was cute.
gah! that snake freaked me out. hehe.hummingbirds are pretty aggressive! we have a few that hang out on the trees around our house and they get pretty mean! i was so surprised!
I love the photos. We had a hummingbird feeder once and i was amazed at how territorial and aggressive with one another these "delicate" little creatures are. I could see one hummingbird getting fatter and fatter as she ruled over the feeder and would swoop like a hawk whenever another hummingbird tried to get in a nibble.
When we moved, I left the feeder disassembled, but we still get hummingbirds in our yard because I have so much lavender. (Deer don't eat it) I suppose I can thank the deer for the bird show.
All the neighbors keep talking about rattlesnakes getting into their yards, but we haven't seen (or heard) on of them yet — now THAT would be freak-out worthy.
That is one disgusting-looking snake.
We get a few hummingbirds around here too, but unfortunately they're on the side of the house with only one window! Great picture.