Digest: Sunflowers to Orioles

The sunflowers I've been encouraging in the backyard have paid off. Though I haven't yet gotten a picture of them, I saw a male and female lesser goldfinches picking through the flower heads for seeds. Will put a Thistle feeder back there to see if they'll feed on that too.

Here are photos of the 4.5 inch birds from the Cornell site:



Besides the goldfinches, house finches are visiting too, and the monk parakeets.

Friends who live a few blocks down had what they thought was a Robin nesting in a Mulberry tree in their backyard. So I went over to take a few pix. I mean these birds don't nest here. We usually only see them during the spring migration.

So I found the nest, where Amy told me it would be, and took a few snaps.

I heard the parents calling to the chicks, so I looked around for movement and finally saw a bird, dark on top and red on the belly calling and rotating in jerking movements on every call. I took a few snaps, but I couldn't get one when it went to the nest. It only stayed a second to deliver its worm and flying off. I can only attribute it's nervousness to our presence.

When I got home and looked at the pix, I only then realized it wasn't a Robin, but and Orchard Oriole. Check out the pix.


Here's what the female looks like, from the Cornell site.