Saturday, May 29, 2010

Saturday songbirds

Despite having enjoyed a nice, relaxing afternoon with my parents, the three of us sitting on their back porch and watching the birds, I find I'm fighting a wicked headache this evening. So for the most part I'll just let today's pictures speak for themselves.

We enjoyed the rare treat of an oriole coming in to the feeders in front of us; usually they stick to their oranges and grape jelly:



A male cardinal in the blue spruce:



And on the feeder:



I just liked how this grosbeak shot turned out:



A tiger swallowtail checking out the plants in one of Mom's gardens:



Butterflies aren't the only creatures attracted to this garden—I managed to capture a male hummingbird working the same plants:



A blue jay highlighted by the afternoon sun:



A woodpecker taking a look around:



A female goldfinch with a mouthful:



A couple of action shots, starting with a woodpecker coming in to the feeders:



And a very lucky catch of a grosbeak backlit by the setting sun:



An indigo bunting came into the feeder on a couple of occasions. This first time, just after it had landed something in the area startled the entire bird population—a bunch of birds suddenly flew off over our heads, followed by a lot of blue jay calls, and then mostly silence. The bunting and the chipping sparrow next to it didn't vacate the premises like the others, obviously; instead they froze exactly were they were for at least five minutes, barely moving a muscle the entire time:



Later on, I had another lucky break when a bunting joined one of the orioles over at the other feeder:



A couple more indigo bunting pics, just 'cause it's such a pretty bird:





And, as always, no parental visit would be complete without pictures of Kaylee. In this first one, she and Robbie enjoy their second-favorite activity together: playing.



Followed by their favorite activity: mooching.



Scratching an itch:



Since she had a bad insect experience as a puppy, Kaylee tends to keep a very watchful eye on any bug that gets too close:



Clearly, being so adorable is exhausting work:

1 comment:

  1. I especially like the birds with their wings open, but all the photos are great.

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