Monday, April 27, 2009

Spring Imitates Summer (and this is for the birds!)


This past week had people giddy in our part of the country over the unusually warm temperatures. Not only does it energize us after a winter of ice storms, deep snow, and frigid cold, it seems to have the same effect on other living things.

'Lemon Beauty' and 'Pipit'

Never before have my daffodils all burst out in bloom at the same time. I have early, middle, and late season varieties, but all except 'New Baby' are in full bloom now. That's what daily highs in the 80s will do.







I put my Oriole feeder out last weekend, because I knew it was coming up on time that they should be passing through here, and yesterday I saw one scoping it out from a nearby tree!

















And if that wasn't thrilling enough, I also saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak doing the same thing near the seed feeders. Last year, they bypassed us altogether.





Neither of them will spend the entire summer here. The orioles will nest, raise their young, and move on. The grosbeaks will stay even shorter. But however long we have them, it's thrilling to see the friendly grosbeaks and hear the brilliant song of the oriole as we relax on our patio or work in the gardens.


This evening, as I was talking to our neighbor on the patio, a little flash of blue zipped past us. We saw it in the tree, about the size of a wren and in full dress blues. An Indigo Bunting!

I guess Our Little Acre is where it's at in the bird world this week!



____________________
Photos of Oriole and Grosbeak are from 2007.
Indigo Bunting photo taken this evening.


18 comments:

Connie said...

Wow, those are all beautiful creatures! The only one I've seen here on occasion is the Grosbeak. I especially love the color on the Oriole.

Louise Hartwig said...

Lucky you!!!We have lots of birds, but, but never a blue bunting, Beautiful.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Kylee .. The orange of that bird is amazing ! Your daffs are beautiful : )
We had very warm temps too .. yesterday was actually HOT and I was sweating in the garden .. this should pass and normal Spring temps should come back .. but wow .. too hot too soon is RIGHT !

Lisa at Greenbow said...

It looks like summer is moving into your area bringing the summer residents with it.

F Cameron said...

You have bird visitors who never come our way. I love seeing the photos of your special visitors.

Our goldfinches are wearing their bright yellow and black summer attire again.

We've just had several days of 90+ degrees. It's supposed to drop to a cool 86 today. My newly planted perennials have been suffering terribly. It just shouldn't be so hot so soon.

Cameron

Anonymous said...

NS is having an unusually warm April day today, too, Kylee -- temps are expected in the low to mid 80's. It's a nice break and at least there's no humidity. Yet. :) Your bird visits were amazing!

Robin's Nesting Place said...

I've never put out an oriole feeder. I'd love to see an oriole in person so I may have to give it a try! I have had the grosbeaks visit my feeder, that was a delight!

flydragon said...

Our Oriole showed up Sat. as well. I manage to keep them here all summer and last year I had to put up 2 feeders because they all brought their kids to eat too! Loved it. Haven't seen a Rose-breasted Grosbeak yet but if you have them, they must be on their way here too. I've only seen a Indigo Bunting once in my yard and that was a few years ago. Isn't that such a gorgeous bird!!!!

Victoria Williams said...

Springtime is so great, isn't it? We've had warmer than usual temps for a few days, but now we're back to normal.

Kit Aerie-el said...

Wow, that's interesting that orioles come thru the area! And the indigo bunting-what a treat to see!
Your daffs are so pretty. They must mean spring is really here :)

Nutty Gnome said...

Wow - you've got gorgeous birds! The British birds tend to be more reserved in muted shades of brown and green! Mind you, even they're not coming out to play at the moment - it's been chucking it down with rain for the past 3 days!

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

Wow! You get some colorful and interesting birds there! Great pictures.

Brenda Pruitt said...

All of these birds are ones I don't see. So thank you for letting me get a vicarious peek!
Brenda

Dave said...

Nice pictures! I saw an indigo bunting today but the grosbeaks must have passed us by. Too bad I enjoyed seeing them last year. I've never seen an oriole in person!

Bren Haas said...

Isn't this weather crazy Kylee?!!!! Now back to spring today. The rain was wonderful yesterday because it made the woods finally start turning green. I get so tired of the bare trees.

Happy Wednesday to you Dear Ohio friend. ((HUGS))

Jan said...

Oh Kylee, those are some of the birds I would love to have stop by my garden...they're all so gorgeous! How lucky you are, girl! So happy you are getting a taste of summer...although it wasn't fun here, actually 95+ degrees for 3 days and the humidity was horrid. More like FLorida in the heat of the summer...but finally today it's raining and much much cooler...yay! It is fun to see all the flowers pop, isn't it?!! Happy Spring, and I hope you have a Wonderful Day, Kylee;-) Jan

Shady Gardener said...

I also heard the orioles and grossbeak are out and about here, so I've put out oranges, hummingbird feeders, etc. in hopes to draw them too! :-) Great photos.

Jeph said...

Wow, you've got some really impressive bird sightings right there in your own yard! I'm very jealous!

Just last week I was driving down a "back country road" (sort of) and saw a red bird with black wings sitting in the road. I doubled back to check, thinking someone's exotic pet bird had gotten loose and was hurt. Turns out it was fine, and when I got home, a quick Google search showed I'd just seen a Scarlet Tanager - VERY cool!

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