Orioles

Late afternoon yesterday, our neighbor, Steve, was mowing his lawn and I was wandering through the yard trying to spot the Painted Turtle I had seen earlier in the day. We stopped to have a chat about the birds we've seen so far this year.

He is especially excited about the Baltimore Orioles, and had spotted a nest in one of the trees between our houses. He said it is very visible from his yard and that I should get a photo. I'll post one as soon as I can. By my count, there are at least three male Orioles and two females, though there may be four males. I have a brief video of the males arguing over breeding rights.

He said he has seen one of the local hawks eating the sparrow eggs/babies in the arborvitae. I know there are several sparrow nests in there. Evidently one of the hawks got an oriole nest on the other side of his yard last year (or maybe the year before). The orioles have not rebuilt there.

I have counted two male Ruby-throated hummingbirds and one female so far. Sadly, we seem to have only one pair of bluebirds, but they are nesting and I'll watch for their first clutch. If this is the same pair we had last year, they'll have another clutch before heading South. The one male cardinal is still feeding his female, though I'm seeing her less frequently of late. Eggs have been laid and babies have hatched!