And the main reason birds show up in my garden? Amaranth.
Normally I don’t photograph birds in my garden and I rarely post photos of yard birds to Feathered Photography. Two days ago the wildfire smoke was so bad it hurt to breathe outside and bird photography was mostly a waste of time so that evening I made the decision to stay home yesterday. But when dawn broke much of the smoke had unexpectedly cleared out and since it was too late to head to one of my usual birding destinations I decided to try my luck in my mixed vegetable/flower garden.
1/200, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender
The best luck I had was with this female Black-chinned Hummingbird resting on a leaf stalk of one of my amaranth plants. She isn’t quite tack sharp (although she’s close) but with me that’s what happens when I’m shooting with my shaky hands at a shutter speed of only 1/200th of a second.
Just look at that pollen load on top of her bill. I do have a hummingbird feeder in my yard but it isn’t close to my garden and she’d obviously been getting much of her nectar elsewhere, thus the pollen.
The light in her eye illustrates one of the reasons I don’t photograph birds in my garden very often. If you look closely at the reflection you can see the sun coming up over my grapevine-covered fence. After that the sun has a clear shot to my garden for only about an hour in the early morning before it’s blocked by the leaves of my neighbor’s trees that can be seen in the reflection directly above the sun. For the rest of the morning my garden is in shade and after that the light is too harsh for quality bird photography. In the evening my garden is totally blocked by shade trees.
So more often than not my choice is to photograph garden birds in the shade or in harsh light.
Most species I get in my yard are the common ones, including House Finches. And they all seem to love the amaranth plants as a source of both cover and food. This female with a wayward feather was using the amaranths as cover in-between food foraging trips to their seed heads high above her.
An American Goldfinch doing the same thing. At least I had a spot of light on this one.
Amaranth produces massive amounts of tiny seeds (up to half a million from a single plant) that don’t have to be hulled so birds love them, especially the House Finches but others too.
Here’s another finch with red debris on her bill from feeding on the seeds.
Thirty years ago I didn’t even know what amaranth was but a neighbor gave me a few tiny seeds and suggested I might like them in my garden for their colorful flower heads and their tendency to grow very tall which makes them an eye-catcher and partially blocks the neighbor’s view if nothing else.
I kept those seeds in my shed for almost ten years before I planted a few of them and amaranth plants have been coming up as volunteers ever since. I rototill most of them under but always leave a few, in pretty random places in my garden, because I’ve learned to like them a lot.
And so do the birds.
Cell phone photo
This was my shooting situation yesterday morning in the hour of decent light I had. There’s a funky color cast because of the smoke on the low horizon that early in the morning.
Hummingbirds sometimes feed on the zinnias (getting either nectar or tiny insects or both) but they often use the very tall amaranth in back as cover, as evidenced by the first photo above. One day I’m hoping to photograph a hummingbird next to a ripe tomato (tomatoes are on the right), if nothing else for the uniqueness of the photo. It almost happened yesterday but no cigar.
That silly frog-planter under the zucchini isn’t really my style but an Honors Biology student and her mother gave it to me decades ago so I can’t bring myself to part with it.
Cell phone photo
Those amaranth are incredible, some of them are only a few inches short of 11′ tall (yes, I measured one of them yesterday.) The patio chair in the deep shade is hard to see but I put it there for scale.
OK, that’s probably way more than you wanted to know about my garden but I wanted to be completely transparent about the situation when I’m photographing birds in my yard and posting them here. Depending on your definition some might say bird photos taken in my yard have been baited or set up so I wanted to be as up front as I possibly could.
Due to circumstances beyond my control I may be posting more bird photos taken in my yard in the coming weeks and for me full disclosure is vital.
Ron
I enjoy all of your photos! Thanks for the backyard bird pics. I live on the east coast and we have been advised to take down our feeders temporarily. I miss our backyard visitors.
I really enjoyed the photos of your backyard, your flowers and your birds. You’ve done a wonderful sanctuary for them.
I love “backyard bird” photos! I enjoy seeing the habitats they find attractive, and knowing that they have a bit of an oasis when foraging gets challenging. Much better to have a birder’s garden, than a garden full of imported plants grown only for appearances.
Huge sighs at the smoke. I remember it all too well – it was the first time that many of us willingly wore face masks before covid hit us. Practice? I hope not to experience it again, but fear we will.
And thank you for the beautiful birds of home. And the amaranth – which I will have to see if we can grow.
Love that ‘bad feather day’ shot too.
Thank you, EC. This afternoon the smoke is worse around here than I’ve ever seen it before. Much worse. The smell is even permeating my house.
I remember that. I suspect you will find that the smell and the ash have permeated your fortress. We had a fine layer of gritty ash on every surface for weeks.
I adore garden birds! We recently moved to ST George and only see a tiny amount of birds so far. Your garden is to die for. We’r building a house so stuck in a colorless yard/rental. I had more yard birds in AZ in one day than I’ve seen here for last 9 months. I always look forward to your posts. Keep up the super work.
Linda, I hope you get a load of migrants this fall. I think the St. George area can be pretty good for them.
Lots of fun photos. That looks like a boat load of tomatoes. Perhaps bush beans surrounding the amaranth? Female House Finches are always a puzzle for me; I usually look for a nearby male to help ID.
You’re right, the frog-planter just isn’t you. Curious why your student thought you would like it.
Interesting variety of etymologies of Archilochus:
BotW: Parian poet famous for his savage wit and flouting of convention. Seems the most likely
Another: archi=chief, lochus=ambush, because of its territorial behavior.
More tomatoes than we can eat, that’s for sure Lyle. I’ve been giving them to my neighbor and my ex-wife and there’s still tomatoes to spare. Too many is far better than too few.
That’s lemon cucumbers beneath the amaranth. And the spaghetti squash at the extreme left (a little hard to see) is growing like… wildfire.
thank you for inspiring me to plant amaranth for the birds! and feelign the smoke in my throat and lungs even though i can’t smell it in the air….part of living in the west in the summer now :-((
enjoy the garden!
“part of living in the west in the summer now”
I’m afraid you’re right, Karen. And that’s not only sad, it’s tragic.
I always enjoy your posts and many times I learn something new. I have had these red leafed plants with small purple clusters on them pop up in my gardens and seemingly everywhere and did not know what they were. They looked similar to your amaranth. I googled it and presto! I have a 4′ variety of purple leafed amaranth! Now I know! Thank you!
Good. And congrats, Sybby. Yes, there are lots of varieties of amaranth.
What a beautiful garden. I’ll take picture of a bird any way you give it to me😁
We had a new fire start Wednesday.. the River Fire in Colfax California. These fires seem to never end.
Sorry to hear about another CA fire, Diana. Very sorry.
I greatly admire your sense of ethics, Ron, about disclosing the situation when photographing in your yard. I hope the smoke clears (for everyone’s sake) and you can get back out there soon.
Much appreciated, Linda. Our smoke has been getting worse by the hour. It’s truly depressing.
Gorgeous backyard – clearly loved and well-tended. Love yard birds – especially hummers. Hung a hummer feeder here in the mountains. First time! Had to google the nectar recipe from the Smithsonian. Why do people buy that horrible red stuff?! Thx Ron 🙂
Thanks, Kathleen. I think they used to buy (and make) that ‘red stuff’ out of ignorance and once it became an established practice it was hard to rectify the situation.
I have heard of amaranth as a grain, going to look it up to see if it will grow in our area.
Jo, yes it’s often ground up into a flour and used for human consumption. You can also pop the seeds in a frying pan like tiny popcorn but I’ve never done it.
I REALLY LIKED the #1 shot ( of the hummingbird )– the simplicity of the
background, the parallel lines of the beak and the stem, and the varied
greens– make for a lovely visual harmony……I noticed that you have a big catalpa in your yard—have you seen birds feed on those long seed pods ?
I would think
they’d be difficult to open ? I, too, loved seeing your lush-looking yard !
Nope, I’ve never once seen birds feeding on those catalpa seed pods, Kris. I love that tree but when those damn seed pods fall they often stick into the lawn like a spear.
I have several smaller male catalpa trees to the left of that big female tree and thankfully they don’t produce seed pods.
My wife would love your garden. I don’t think I have ever seen Amaranth, but very pretty and at 11 feet definitely gives you a screen. I am really bad at Hummingbird ID and your Black-chinned is one example of why. I don’t see anything that looks like a black chin so how did that become the name?
Thanks for sharing your back yard with us.
Everett, it’s the adult males that have the black chin,
NICE garden! May have to add some amaranth to mine for the birds. Birds sure seem to love them. Good shots of the birds also. 🙂 Smoke bad here also. 🙁
Thank you, Judy.
Nice change Ron, seeing the Dudley land, lush gardens with pretty little yardbirds that we all enjoy and love.
Thanks very much, Susan.
Love these photos and the look at your beautiful garden! The Zinnias and Amaranth are awesome. Maybe I’ll try some Amaranth next year if the birds love them so much.
Joanne, there’s no question that the birds love them, a lot.
I am with you and the smoke Ron. I am working at the Great Basin National Park for the summer/fall. This morning I awoke to thick smoke. Even can smell it. Can’t see any mountains at all.
I was to go out do photography as well. Nope. 3 days off and smoke fore-casted for all 3 days–errrr.
So I will go the visitor center flower garden and photo bugs.
jake
Jake, it’s been far too long since I’ve been to GBNP, probably about eight years now. I hope it’s still as remote and relatively unvisited as it used to be but I have my doubts.
I wish you luck at the visitor center.
Great images! I especially like the first one of the female House Finch amid the amaranth, there’s something very powerful and even kind of ethereal about it. Some days you don’t need to look any further than your own back yard.
Thanks, Stephanie. I just wish I had more species variety (of birds) in my yard.
Lots of enjoyable info in your post, looking forward to amaranth in my garden someday, and by the way the detail in feathers and beaks this morning is wonderful.
Thanks, Terri. I suspect some folks wouldn’t like amaranth in their garden because it ‘volunteers’ but that hasn’t really been a problem for me.
I was amused to see that all of the birds had “mussed hair” going on. Must be a morning thing. LOL
“I was amused to see that all of the birds had “mussed hair””
So did the photographer!