“Pay the thunder no mind – listen to the birds.”
— Eubie Blake

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House Finch | Carpodacus mexicanus

       Summer’s here and fireflies are flickering in the fading twilight, lighting up the evenings. I’ve got some spectacular lightning bug images from 2008 and now this year, but I’m saving most of them for a book I have in development.

       Any other firefly sightings out there? Are their more fireflies this year than in the past, or less?

A pair of songbirds leap and tumble in the late afternoon sunlight, chasing each other and showing off to a hidden observer.

A baby leafhopper peeks out from the cavernous bowl of a leaf. Summer awaits.

        Still mantis central here, I hope some will survive the perils of my backyard microwilderness.

        A mantis from last year crosses a dew-covered bridge below.

      Two songbirds collide mid-air, something we don’t see often, but must happen all the time. Imagine the accidents if we could fly.

      My computer is being repaired, so until I get it back, here’s one of my most popular images.

Not only my backyard, a pair of songbirds surveys our shared territory.

        Almost too cute for its own good, a tiny soldier in the insect wars in my backyard microwilderness, this soldier beetle is related to fireflies, but cannot produce light.

        They are useful in gardens, controlling many pest insects like aphids.

An ant takes a small journey through the golden heart of a dandelion, repeated unseen across ten thousand yellow-spotted lawns.

       The rain was so hard last night I feared many flowers would be gone, but no, most survived.

       All night the sound had
       come back again,
       and again falls
       this quiet, persistent rain.
       – Robert Creeley

The cool stillness of a morning is broken
by a honey bee’s hurried return to her hive,
a brilliant angel of the garden.
 

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Honey bee | Apis mellifera