An eastern screech owl took up residence in an old wood duck house.
For the first time, a bluebird pair nested along the cornfield. And first ever tufted titmice showed up regularly while a summer tanager made an unprecedented visit this spring.
Even a bald eagle landed near our property line in March to look over my backyard. 
On the other hand some old friends were definitely missing. No longer would I see the red headed woodpeckers chase the squirrels away from the feeder. Its been years since I have heard the song of the eastern meadowlark. Purple martins are not to be seen circling above the yard in the spring. Worst of all, there were no rose breasted grosbeaks downing their daily ration of sunflowers seeds.
Till this week. Looking up from the book I was reading in my easy chair, I noticed movement in the backyard. To my utter surprise, the platform feeder had four rose breasted grosbeaks aboard. In addition, their were several clinging to the hanging feeders as well as on the ground. It was a RBG bonanza!
Of course, they ate their fill and moved on north the next day. Still two have remained behind. They stop by regularly and may be nesting in the woods close by. Perhaps a new generation of these beautiful birds will adopt this place as their home. I surely hope so. Good to see you again my old friends. :)
That really is an RGB bonanza! The indigo (we call them Lazuli) buntings just migrate through here but don't stay. It's a thrill to see them. I've never had the rose-breasted grosbeaks, but I have black-headed grosbeaks all summer long here. And no red-headed woodpeckers here, but downy woodpeckers and magnificent flickers.
ReplyDeleteMy friend who is moving to Minn in the coming months just returned from a trip there and was telling me of all the bird varieties we never see here: cardinals, blue jays (different varieties than we have), bluebirds (also different from ours) -- a color feast.
I'm envious but delighted to see the pictures anyway.
Hey Troutbirder,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my stuff today. Sorry to hear you are bruised and battered. Guess you borrowed and used the good camera and lost it too. I might have to smash your thumb too.
I see your family is coming in. I just read Kari's blog. I hope you all have a wonderful visit. You have such a great family. I am sure you know that though. There are people in the world who talk about making it a better place and then there are people like your son and Kari who actually do it.
May God Bless them and their children abundantly!!
how awesome! i've only caught them a couple of times here on their way north, too!
ReplyDeleteI've been neglecting our feeders, too worried about bear. I so miss seeing RBG and the rare sightings of Indigo Buntings!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to have an owl so close. Yes, the birds do come and go. I'm lucky that some of the more unusual (to me) birds have stayed with us through the winter and are beginning to bring their young to the feeders. Isn't nature wonderful?
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful and colorful birds! I can see why you missed the grosbeaks when they were gone. We've got lots of woodpeckers of all sorts in the woods around here. There's always somebody rat-a-tatting away. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the owl looking out of the wood duck house. It looks like a well-used duck house, too. I have grosbeaks that pass through, hanging out at my feeders for a few days every spring but so far none have chosen to nest. I always hope, though!
ReplyDeleteHow delightful for you to make new acquaintances and renew old ones.
ReplyDeleteWe always look forward to seeing the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks during their migration. This year we did not see a single one. Lovely photographs.
ReplyDeleteThat screech owl is the coolest!
ReplyDeleteHi there, Just stopping by to say “Happy Mother’s Day” to you. I’m sure you are having a fabulous day. I celebrated yesterday when one of my sons and his beautiful wife came to see us….
ReplyDeleteAs you probably know, we’ve been out-of-town this past week and I haven’t done any blogging much at all. I hope you enjoyed my two Tulip blog posts while we were gone——and be sure and tune in tomorrow morning to find out what we’ve been doing this past week….
Enjoyed your post today! We had our FIRST Indigo Bunting visit us a couple of weeks ago (just for a couple of days). Then the male Grosbeaks stopped by before heading to your house....
Hugs,
Betsy
so many wonderful visitors, i am so happy for you! thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful post, very deftly written.
ReplyDeleteBluebirds! I sometimes say all I want is a little place where Bluebirds come. When I was in South Carolina living in the country I made some houses and put them out and in a couple years they started coming. Their song was hard for me to pick up at first, being softer than most, then I somehow tuned into it. To me it's the most beautiful thing in the world. Lucky you.
What a wonderfully amazing array of birds at your place! I was so excited to see ONE Summer Tanager (male), one pair of grosbeaks, etc. and my Mr. was sure he saw one indigo bunting... unverified by me... too far away by the time I was supposed to make the i.d. ha. We continue to have a pair of Baltimore Orioles visit our feeders almost every day. Wish I knew where their nest is!! Happy Spring, Troutbirder!!!
ReplyDeleteA Tanager! I am so jealous! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHow fun to see so many wonderful beauties. The color of the Indigo Bunting amazes me. Just so lovely.
I love the shot of the owl.
Carla
Quite an array of birds. Love the owl!
ReplyDeleteI hope many of the birds nest in your area. I see most of them at my feeders in May but they are moving north and don't stay. I may try putting out platform feeders this year. It is so hard keeping the squirrels out of them. I need to face the fact that the squirrels are a whole lot smarter than me.
ReplyDeleteI too watch the birds out my window that is located by my computer. I have a fledgling ornamental tree near this window that has brought bountiful views of both insects and birds. The little tree has become a regular perch for a pair of chirping sparrows that are building their nest in a nearby hedge. You certainly have a wide variety of birds visiting your yard. Their winged activity right now must be quite entertaining to your household. Nice post -- barbara
ReplyDeletegreat pictures...especially the screech owl. You have a nice variety.
ReplyDeleteLovely collection. I haven't seen any Grosbeaks this year
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post. Glad the grosbeaks came back.
ReplyDeleteWe had a Rose Breasted Grosbeak here this morning! Good to see you have a variety of birds! :)
ReplyDeleteWe just purchased anew home adjacent to a wetland and the birds are very different there. I would be thrilled to have an owl as a neighbor! Enjoyed reading this post!
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