persistance pays off...

I've seen these tiny butterflies all summer, but,well they are TINY and quick.  Today I finally got a passable photo of one! woohoo!  I believe it is a female Eastern tailed-Blue butterfly after comparing photographs between it and a grey hairstreaked. To my eyes it looks like the red spots are coned shape, compared to the more square shape of the hairstreaked.  And I could be wrong :) 
When I say TINY I mean (US) dime sized!
Same photo, but re sized it on the right to give you a better look.

I've seen an increase of honeybees on the big butterfly bush in my yard (again I say woohoo!)  Each one I was able to see clearly, had full pollen sacks on their legs. When I start seeing a lot of  honeybees, I remind myself that they are good bees, and can only sting once. That if I am not a threat to their hive and they have plenty of food, they leave me and my stuff alone.  Some times it's not enough to only know they are environmentally good.   :D   And this usually works for me!

I like the first photo where her (because worker bees are female) head is buried in the flower. But the second photo shows the pollen sack better if you look at this full sized.

Here's a downy woodpecker. While I was shooting butterflies I kept hearing a small sound, like the birds or squirrel makes while opening and eating a peanut. But it was the woodpecker...and I can't believe I never noticed this tree before that looks very worn from being pecked at. This is on top of my bank, and I always think of these as scrub or junk trees and am always threatening to cut them down. After all I need more room on the bank and could use a little more sun there.  I'll have to inspect anything carefully before I go cutting it down.

And I never get tired of butterfly photos.