I spotted this new visitor on the feeder and hurriedly grabbed the camera. I took the pictures through about a 4-inch crack in the sliding door, but , if I open it more, the dogs run out and chase all life away.

I was most intrigued by the coloration on the head. It only covers the front half.

This is the only male I have seen other than Woody. I know it is a male because the cere (the bony part that has the nostrils) is blue. If it were a female, that would be a grayish color.

He is much bluer than the blue females that have visited.

The yellow part of his head is a lot lighter color than Woody's girlfriend's.

Here you can clearly see the blue cere.

I wanted to find a few more photos to round out this post. It was just before dusk, so these aren't very sharp.

You can see that my esperanzas in the back of the house don't have orange like the ones in front.

Another shot of the same two blossoms.

Okay... Here you see the burlap bandages I put on the tree where squirrels had eaten the bark. You can also see the little burlap rolls I put on the feeder hook. All of the burlap is sprayed with mint scented squirrel deterrent. It seems to be working, but I have to respray every few days, and that stuff is expensive.

Altogether, I probably have about 20 little pride of Barbados plants growing around the yard. Rachel has transplanted a few. I am going to let the best of these four stay in this spot.

We will still have some blossoms for a while longer.

This is some kind of sage. These are the first flowers it has had.

This one breaks my heart. This is a Mexican Sage. It was a nice big plant at the end of last summer. The two minor freezes hurt it some, even thought it went through the BIG FREEZE of 2021 unscathed. Then the drought finished it off. This is the last existing stem. There are two small baby plants under it, but they are not as healthy. I hope this guy makes it. The other one we had put in last summer, did not survive the winter.

The huge Aloe Vera that Jared and Rachel replanted in this barrel planter is really thriving. I am going to buy a cheap dolly, so we can move it to our garage in freezing weather. We usually cover it, but it tends to bruise and get slimy were the cover touches it during a wet freeze.