Time for a bath...

for this male yellow-rumped warbler at least!

Golden Wings...

 I was excited to spot a Golden-Winged Warbler in the garden today, isn't he a beauty!

hummers...

The hummingbirds have arrived in my garden! Since I put a feeder right out the patio door they are especially enjoyable to view up close. The male sits there for long periods of time guarding "his" territorial feeder. It was cloudy this am and my patio doors are extremely dirty so I'm hoping to get better shots in the days to come. In the cloudy light it was hard to spot his ruby throat - it appears brown unless the sunlight is reflecting off it.
 
As long as I had the camera out I took a photo of all my bright Goldfinches. At one point this morning there were a dozen in the small tree by the rock fountain.
Mr. Rose Breast still delights me with his wonderful coloring...

and I just wish the Grackles would move away. Watching the action in the yard, I would say I have them nesting in just about every spruce tree and that is a lot of white poo that will be dropped on my garden, patio, windows and cars before the nesting season is done.

It is very windy today and predicted to reach 90 degrees, so I also took a shot of my beautiful magnolia before it blossoms fade in the heat & wind.

have I told you lately...

how much I LOVE SPRING?


There is nothing more relaxing than having a 2nd (ok, maybe 3rd) cup of coffee while watching the backyard each morning looking for new spring migrators.


Today, I first spotted a male American Redstart but couldn't grab a camera fast enough before he flew off into the grove. You can bet tomorrow I'll have the camera on my lap during coffee time.


Mr. and Mrs. Rose-breasted Grosbeak were the new arrivals I enjoyed next. They are such beautiful birds but I only see them here in my garden in the spring and once again during August when the youngster males appear at the feeders.
 
As always in the bird world, the males get all the beautiful color and the females appear more drab and plain. However, Mrs. Grosbeak holds a secret and that is a beautiful salmon color under her wings that you can spot when she is in flight.

Can't wait to spot the next new arrivals...what are you seeing in your backyard?

the beauty of spring...

I especially enjoy seeing our first signs of spring after a rainfall. While the garden is still almost completely bare, I enjoy the color of a few early red tulips, one lone daffodil blossom, the blooming forsythia and the first opening magnolia blossom.


Today I am especially thankful for the returning color of the baltimore oriole and the yellow rumped warblers!
What spring beauty are you enjoying today?

cousins tea party...

I hope everyone reading had a wonderful weekend! I had a great one starting with a fun day of shopping garage sales where I hit the "grandma jackpot" with lots of fun items for my two little princesses. Since both of them were coming to celebrate an early Mother's Day with me (my second great day!), I cleaned it all up and brought it inside for them to play with and they had a little tea party together.

Days like this are such a joy and exactly what I thought of when I made this picture frame after Bailey was born.  Of course I had to switch out the older photo for a new tea party one :)

I finally believe spring has arrived, the garden is full of yellow rumped warblers!  Hopefully, I will have photos tomorrow.

from fast to feast...

Today was a feast day for my goldfish! I finally moved them from the garage where they have been fasting in a 100 gallon tank all winter to the cleaned out pond today. It is hard to imagine but from early November until today they have not been fed at all! Even though the pond water is still quite cold I gave them food today to reward them for the stress of the move. It didn't take them long at all to clean up the hand full of food I threw out.

 Now that the pond is up and running, the birds have been taking advantage for clean drinks and bathes. One of my favorite things to do is take shots of bathing birds.

Garden color...

I'm thankful that tonight I am one of the Minnesotans that isn't experiencing a fresh coat of white snow on my lawn! As record May snowfall falls to the east, I get to finally see some color in my first tulips of the year.
 
 I'm missing the bright red of my winter cardinal that left for greener pastures but today I saw bright male house finches adding a little more color to the backyard.
 This week, I've been cleaning up the garden and Jeff helped me clean out the pond so tomorrow I can finally put the fish in. They are getting restless in the garage and ready for some fresh air and water. May is finally here...let the gardening begin :)