Fiery Hangbird (aka Baltimore Oriole)

This pretty boy appeared quite close to me as I was picking up my mail yesterday. I’d seen a Baltimore oriole in the same spot a week or so ago, also while I was picking up my mail, but that bird disappeared before I could haul out my camera. This time the bird was cooperative and didn’t flyaway for long enough for me to grab a quick shot or two.

I took several other shots but the bird moved so quickly up and down that fence rail that I usually only captured its hind end in the photo. The bird would be sitting atop the rail, I’d snap a photo but before the shutter clicked the bird was hanging along the edge of the rail and I didn’t have much to show for it. Finally, the bird sat still long enough for me to snap it sitting still before it flew off. It was only later when I zoomed in a bit on the photo that I realized what Mr. Oriole had been doing bobbing up and down that fence. See the bug in its mouth? Apparently, it was finding delicious little wormy things in that split rail fence.

If you’ve been birding as long as I have, you’ve lived through several name changes for a good many species. I first learned this bird as Baltimore oriole, then its name was changed to northern oriole and now it’s back to Baltimore oriole again. The bird also has several non-official names, including both hangbird and fiery hangbird. The fiery hangbird really fits, and this bird’s antics made me realize just how well that name fits.

Happy Friday!

Old and New

I took this photo of these dandelions because I liked that one has gone to seed already and the other is just blooming. Every where I walk right now the woods are soggy and cool. The smaller plants are weighted down by raindrops, and everything looks as though it could use a few good days of sunshine. These dandelions are one of the few blooms left at the moment.

After a day of clouds yesterday, today it is raining again. The weather feels more like April than May. I’m just hoping that whenever the weather does clear the temperature doesn’t jump right into August and stay that way.

The rain has made the forest’s foliage even denser and more lush than it usually is. As a result, even though I’m hearing lots of birds, I’m actually not seeing very many, even when I can tell the bird is very close. A Baltimore oriole has been singing from a tree in the middle of the driveway all week long, and I still haven’t seen him. Last evening, I stood outside with my binoculars, scouring the tree where the sound was coming from and I still didn’t find him. Occasionally, one of the regular crew will visit my bird feeders, and I’ll see birds then, but that’s about the only way I’m seeing them.