I adore birds.   All birds.  There is something about them that simply fascinates me.   My mother instilled this love in me from early childhood.    Although not at all outdoorsy, my mom did enjoy watching the birds in our back yard from the glass sun room (no BUGS!).   We had a Peterson field guide on the table  in that room accompanied by binoculars .   Although the birds we saw  mostly were common back yard birds found in the eastern U.S. we enjoyed watching them just the same.

When I moved from Ohio to the Kansas City area, the birds that I saw each day were many of the same species that I watched while growing up.   Once we moved to wooded acreage however, bird watching took on a whole new dimension!     Many of the familiar birds are here in the woods (although I have not seen a single Sparrow since our arrival here).    But we are now able to attract colorful canopy birds too, my two favorites of which are sharing a feeder below.

(Below) A mature Baltimore Oriole shares “his” jelly feeder with a male Indigo Bunting.   Size is everything in the bird world…usually.    Ordinarily, a larger bird would nearly always dominate a feeder.   But Buntings are very laid back and tame by nature.   They are birds of little conflict that are amiable and seemingly unflappable.    This tiny fellow was not deterred by the larger more flamboyant Oriole.    They were somehow able to work out an agreement with each other and dined together.    This is unusual, as birds of different species typically don’t eat at a feeder at the same time.

Like any busy airport, one must occasionally wait in line to get onto the tarmac.    Here the Bunting is trying to decide whether or not to hop down onto the jelly feeder.    Buntings are very adaptable birds, getting along well with others and eating virtually anything that is available to them from small insects, to jelly, to small seeds.   This is a delightful and beautiful species.

We are nearly overrun by Orioles this year.  Adult males are the only ones that have a solid black head.   Juvenile males are speckled where they will later be black.   This mature male poses within the Clematis on our trellis.   The purple and orange are a beautiful sight.

My acrylic painting entitled “Vibrant Garden” was inspired by sights just outside our windows.

The fall hummingbird migration is approaching.  Tiny hummers become especially ambitious around our feeder when they sense a need to tank up on calories before their long flight south.  Aggressive competition among them increases too, usually with a female taking the top position as queen of the feeder.

This little female Ruby Throated Hummingbird shows off an itty bitty attitude that is so classically seen in hummingbirds in September.

Below she sticks her tongue out at me as an apparent display of her sassy, diminutive character.

It is easy to forget when viewing close up photos that are enlarged as these are, that her tiny head would easily fit into a thimble.

I enjoy winter. Well I might correct that statement with “I USUALLY enjoy winter.” Over the past decade and a half winters in eastern Kansas have become mild to say the least, confirming the whole global warming thing, (not that it ever needed to be confirmed to me). Just when we were all getting used to the idea of lots of sunshine and mild winter temps, Mother Nature had other ideas. The winter of 07-08 has been COLD and LOOOONG. Winter seemed to simply refuse the release of it’s grip…well until about 5 days ago that is.

With rain coming down in rumbling torrents and an occasional glimpse of the sun, the world is going green, and going green in a hurry.

There are many things that are living icons of spring but two of them enjoy unusually loyal notoriety. One is the tulip and the other the robin. Just to confirm that winter is FINALLY over and Mr Springtime has come at long last, I’ve included a photo of each here. What a nice way to lift one’s spirits out of the winter dull drums…

Are these tulips mine you ask?…not a chance. I have never been able to grow the darned things (squirrels digging them up don’t increase the odds) . These belong to a neighbor. The squirrels in our neighbor’s yards must be really lazy or they have all come to some kind of strange agreement or something… 🙂

This little gal is feeding her recent hatchlings. She and her mate diligently tend to these babies all through the day. Songbirds are very devoted parents.

Here, only about four days later, the babies have more than tripled in size. Their eyes are now open and fuzz has formed on their tiny heads. Baby birds literally are “eating machines.” The parents poke insects all the way down into the little birdie’s stomachs. They can’t even swallow on their own at this point. Believe it or not, these babies will fledge in a little more than a week from when this photo was taken. That is why such rapid growth is necessary.

Just three days later than the photo above, the baby robins (below) are now huge and have developed wing feathers and the orange breast feathers for which this species is most known. This brood started out with four babies. It is now down to three and those three barely fit into the nest.

Three days later than the photo above, the baby birdies now really look like robins. There are still three of them, and they are jammed into that nest. They are stretching their wings and even starting to flap them. Because they are ready to fledge, I didn’t visit them again after this. When baby birds are just past this point, a visit from me could send them out of the nest a bit earlier than what is best for them. Most likely, they left the nest the very next morning.

Meanwhile, only yards away under the nest this Northern Water snake basks in the long awaited sunshine. Water snakes usually dine on frogs, lizards and fish. But they do occasionally make a meal out of small birds. Luckily the robin parents are very discrete about approaching their nest. After all, you never know who might be watching…

April, May and early June are such interesting times here in eastern Kansas. Birds of all kinds migrate through here on their way to summer breeding areas far up north. You never know who may “drop in” even if only for a few days.

I am familiar with the songs of our local birds. When I hear something unfamiliar especially at this time of year, it warrants a closer look. In spring, the familiar becomes diluted with an assortment of strange sounds that ripple through the woods like waves of change.

For the past couple of days we had a visit from this little fellow and his small flock of “identical” friends. This is a Yellow-rumped Warbler (also known as the “Myrtle” Warbler). He has come all the way from Central America, perhaps as far south as Panama. He and his buddies will fly on tired wings until they reach Canada, where they will stay for the summer, until it is time to make this journey once again in reverse. Seeing this little guy here in east-central Kansas tells me that he has traveled for a very long distance. He has come so far…however… he still has a long, long way to go…