Trouble on the lane!

After the last of yesterday's storms cleared out this morning, the day came in sunny, breezy and pleasant. Unfortunately, not quite so pleasant for poor Papa House Wren here... The second male who has been lurking around for several weeks seems to be renewing his efforts to steal Papa's woman. So, the day has been filled with lots of trash-talking and high speed chases as Papa defends his territory, his kids and his little lady. At one point, the chase went so near my head that I felt my hair ruffle.

And while the chasing and territorial displays are entertaining, they don't bode well for Mama who is now the only one feeding the nestlings. However, if Papa doesn't keep the new guy away, he is likely to kill the nestlings in order to breed with the female. Yep, wrens are tough. While Mama was out gathering bugs, I peeked in the hole of the box as best I could and could see several tiny little beaks raised and waiting. So cute it made my heart melt.

In other heart-melting news, I got my first good look at one of the cardinal fledglings when he landed on the deck this morning to join me for tea. Honestly, could he be any cuter??

The hummingbirds are kicking into full gear finally - I've counted at least 3 females and 2 males. Today they were buzzing and chittering and chasing each other all over the yard. Add that to the wren wars and it was a bit hair-raising.

I also had six adult downy woodpeckers feeding babies up in the trees, one red-bellied WP fledgling being fed in the trees by both parents, and a hairy WP hitting the suet feeder. The only thing missing was the pileated WPs. Other birds in the yard this afternoon ... mourning doves, blue jays, cardinals, house and gold finches, a great crested flycatcher (yay!), grackles, robins, titmice, chickadees, nuthatches and .. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Oh, an eastern wood pewee calling in the woods.

Fiddled with some bee in flight shots and another one here. And got a good shot of the Catbird Insect Control as well as a little 8-legged surprise in the zinnias.

Happy belated 59th Anniversary to my parents, who celebrated the day in fine style yesterday. Love you both!

Hope everyone is headed for a fun weekend! I plan to spend as much time as possible outside the next two days enjoying what looks to be perfect spring weather!

xxoo
Debbi