There you are, my lovely!

I glanced out and saw the female Baltimore Oriole this morning and smiled to myself - third day in a row she's been here, that's a good sign. Then, about an hour later I was walking through the kitchen when I caught a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye. Grabbing Big Daddy, I peered out the window just in time to see this gorgeous male Baltimore Oriole. I got exactly one shot before he flew. Taken through a somewhat blotchy window (from the rain yesterday) and with absolutely no attention paid to settings. I cropped the heck out of it, darkened it a tad and ... here you go! I was so hoping I'd see one of the males here. Now, of course, I'm getting my hopes up that maybe they'll stay and nest in the woods behind the house...

Speaking of nesting and such ... I saw a pair of the mourning doves doing "the wild thing" - she seemed unimpressed but he was pretty proud of himself with a lot of post-coital strutting. Then, I saw a pair of titmice doing the courtship feeding - not something I've ever seen them do before - she sat on a limb and fluttered her wings until he flew up and fed her - so sweet. Then, I saw a pair of blue jays doing the same thing. And, late this afternoon, I happened to see a house wren trying to stuff a couple of twigs into one of the nestboxes. Totally surprised me as I've not heard them singing so didn't know they'd arrived. Apparently no female yet, but that isn't stopping out little Mr. Wren from building as many nests as possible to try to woo her when she arrives. And since the chickadees are NOT using any of the nestboxes this spring, the leaves them all for the wren paid.

Many bees today, too, which is always fun. Even a few cabbage white butterflies. I posted 5 other shots on Flickr, starting HERE and including a chipmunk!

All of this helped to improve my mood - I've been feeling a bit blue today. I think it is the realization that Hubs is leaving in less than a month. I am dreading that. He's started looking for a short term rental down there - exciting, but also leaves me feeling a bit sad since I'll be here for an indefinite time until we sell the house. All very silly of me, of course, but that doesn't change the way I feel.

Happy Thursday, people...

Debbi

PS: May is National Brain Tumor Awareness Month in the United States. And yesterday marked six years since I had my brain tumor surgically removed. A reminder to me to appreciate every day.

PPS: Breaking news! At 5:15 this evening, I saw my first ruby-throated hummingbird of the year! Photo here - jump for joy!