Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I Got My Thrill...

Out My Windowsill!

(No Blueberry Hills here, sorry.)

A female Baltimore Oriole


This is the sunniest our front yard has EVER been at this time of the year!

If you click here, you'll see a post from last August that shows why.

Want to see another Mother's Day gift?
We need to approach the Sunny Corner Bed.

Isn't it a Beautiful Day????!!!

(I know there's a ring around my sister's tree, but our yard has such a slope!
The dirt was washing away from next to the tree,
so I put a double layer of rocks on the "down side," and
laid other rocks (the top ring) on the grass on the "top side.")


Nearer and nearer we get...

Yep! A bluebird house!
I told "Mr. Shady" that I didn't think we'd see a bluebird.
They prefer open spaces, right?
And besides, the wrens moved in around three seconds after the house
had been stabilized!
(Click on on the photo above to see Mr. Wren on top of the house.)

This past Sunday afternoon,
exactly one week after the bluebird house had been installed,
a real Bluebird peeked into the hole.
Noting that the house was already occupied,
he sat on the roof for a few seconds
(giving us a Great Show!)
before he flew away.


Forgive the photographer, I was getting tired of holding the camera in place!


And one last little video.
This one is extremely fuzzy, but I hope you can tell who it is!!!

This was a thrill and a half!

(Yep! A Scarlet Tanager!)

Nothing at all Shady today... except the yard that's near or under the trees, now that the leaves are in. ;-)

11 comments:

Gail said...

I am excited with you Shady! Do you think the orange was the bait that brought him to your feeder? I was completely surprised to find a bluebird in our new bluebird house, too! No open spaces here either! Aren't we lucky! gail

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

How lucky, such colorful birds. That would thrill me too! Maybe next year the bluebirds will beat the wrens to the house.

Nutty Gnome said...

Lucky you - you get so much more colourful birds than we do in the UK. The best I get are chaffinches, goldfinches and bullfinches. Hmm, a bit of a common thread going on there I think! :)

Ellie Mae's Cottage said...

Wow! I love seeing these little "God Gifts"! I put orange out this year to see if an Oriole would take the bait, but no luck here. At least we do have lots of yellow finches, blue jays, cardinals, and woodpeckers. -Jackie

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

I love the John Mellencamp song "Baltimore Oriole" but that's as close as I've ever gotten to seeing one. :)

Kathleen said...

Wow Shady! You have a lot of activity going on in your yard! Aren't you so glad you put up the bluebird house? Now you've inspired me to put mine up. I've had one in my garage for years but never mounted it since I don't have open space either. This gives me hope! Sighting the scarlet tanager would make my day!

Shady Gardener said...

Gail, Yes! Baltimore Orioles love oranges and grape jelly! ;-) And they drink from the hummingbird feeders. And they're beautiful! :-)

Catherine, Spring is wonderful, isn't it? I can hope bluebirds move in next Spring, but it's with a bit of trepidation. Friends of ours had bluebirds lay eggs, hatch the eggs and watched the parents taking food to the young when WHAT do you guess happened? Wrens entered the house and killed the babies. Isn't that terrible?? So, I'm not sure I'm going to wish for bluebirds in my house, after all.

Nutty Gnome, Yes, I do detect a finch theme going on over there! ;-)

Jackie, You have a great variety, and were we still in our other home, that's what I would see also.

Monica, Do they range upwards towards Michigan at all?? Perhaps a fairy door with an orange or container of grape jelly attached? ;-)

Hi Kathleen. I think you should put up your bluebird house! Do you know that I've heard the scarlet tanager these past couple of days, even though I haven't seen him? I hope he continues to stay nearby! :-)

Anonymous said...

The is a great looking bed. I can imagine the excitement when the bluebird showed up. Maybe next time they will get there first. At least the wrens will sing loudy for you. I am so jealous of that scarlet tanager.

Shady Gardener said...

Chad and Brandy, You can be jealous if you want... but YOU would have taken a much nicer photo! :-)

Linus said...

You finally caught the baltimore orial!

Cheryl

Shady Gardener said...

Yea! And I've caught the male, too. But I haven't had a chance to make a post. :-)