Western Tanager Couple - Piranga Ludoviciana

I did it. Or rather they did it! They cooperated with me! Whew

So, here's the deal. Before we moved to this place, with the wooded lot behind us, I have seen the Western Tanager ONCE. I still remember when I saw this bird for the first time. We were down in the Corvallis area, years ago, and all sitting around outside talking, when one flew down close to us and landed on the roof of an outbuilding....everybody paused and held their breath, he looked us over and off he went. So, we move here and we find out that the little forested area behind our house is a bird nursery in the spring. And the end of April and all of May is when we see the most variety and when different birds who don't come to the feeders will come to one of the 4 water fountains/bird baths that Bill has in the back yard. If you want birds to show up...feed them and provide water.

The Western Tanager is, for me, the crown jewel in our little bird paradise that we have going on in our back yard. They forage in foliage and the eat wasps and other insects, often catching them in midair. They will eat halved oranges. And I have one...so I'm putting that out today. Their nests are on the outer limbs of trees 10-65 feet above the ground. Thank you bird book. (For N. America) Get Field Guide to Birds by Donald and Lillian Stokes. They will have an edition for your part of the US.

I'm delighted to show you the female and male Western Tanager. AND, I do believe they will make the list for the Blip Big Year. Yay!

Off to Corvallis.....catch ya later in the week.

PS I gotta tell you something funny. Oh gosh...Old People...we are so funny. Bill came home and I was telling him about the Ice Cream truck and the song it played and how I couldn't come up with the name of the tune. Then, the synapses fired and I said, Oh...Music Box Dancer....and looked it up and sure enough that was the name of the tune our truck uses. Well, duh. I said, music box and I said dancer...but that didn't do a thing for my memory until later. So, then Bill has poured himself a glass of something I hadn't gotten in a while, a lemon-lime soda and he was hot and tired from working and it tasted good to him. He said, well, this really thirsts my quench. I looked at him and nearly fell off the couch laughing. I said, Oh my gosh we are one step away from The Home! Then my aunt tells me today that she was going to make soup and she was supposed to measure out 2 1/2 quarts of water, and she couldn't do it! She couldn't figure out her measurements with what she was using. But the way she was telling me this, I was in hysterics, laughing so hard. So, I told her about me and the song and how I apparently shared my "duh" moment globally. And I told her about Bill and she laughed. Why do we do this, she asks.. I said, oh honey...our brain is aging and those electrical currents just don't work as well as they should. It's okay. But we had a good laugh.