Keeping in the theme of birds enjoying a bath, one afternoon this week I noticed two orioles in the bird bath.
By the time I got my camera and returned there was one in the bath and another observing. As you can see, Daddy was busy out on the feeder stuffing his face with grape jelly.
I don’t know if these two are this year’s juveniles or last years young ones, or maybe two females just enjoying a relaxing spa day.
But it was sure was fun to watch the one in the bath splash around.
So I’ll share the rest of these without comment. Enjoy.
I have other photos of this week’s shenanigans in my back yard, but those will have to wait for another day.
Edit: I was just outside to hang the oriole feeder up after cleaning it and refilling it with grape jelly. One of the two bathers was back, standing on the railing. He (or she) started flapping it’s wings at me, supposing that maybe I had something to feed it. So I think these two really are juveniles, and not adult females. So cute!
Have you ever seen a great blue heron? (I feel like I should capitalize the heron’s name, anything with “Great” in it’s title seems like it should be capitalized, don’t you think?)
Do you see him out there?
We have lots of them around here, and I’ve taken you out to Kensington to see the heron rookery more than a few times, so of course you’ve all seen a Great Blue.
Here’s a closer image.
But have you ever seen one take a bath? (I think this would make a great children’s book title; Have You Ever Seen One Take a Bath?)
I wonder if he blows bubbles or holds his breath when his head is under water.
I was sitting, a couple of weeks ago, on my brother’s patio looking out over his lake. He has a wonderful view down the lake, but what I was focused on was the tip of his peninsula where a heron appeared to be standing or sitting up to his chest in water while flapping his wings. Or her wings I suppose. But I’m going to assume this was a he.
Coming up for air.
I had my camera in my lap so I started shooting pictures, trying to figure out what he was doing. Was he fishing? Was he caught in fishing line? Was he dancing to some song only he could hear?
There was much flapping.
No, he was taking a bath! Unfortunately many of my images are terribly out of focus, but I’ve found you the best of them so you can enjoy what we wittnessed.
He was a very enthusiastic bather.
He flopped around and preened in the chest deep water for quite a long time, and then he moved over to a sunnier spot and did what all well behaved herons do.
He’s a very proud and regal bird.
He stood, spread his wings and dried himself in the sun.
Because there’s no nicer way to end a warm bath than to dry off in the evening sunshine.
Mom says she has lots of photos to edit from her trip, but I keep asking her to do stuff with me so she hasn’t had time to mess with those old photos. I did let her edit the images in this post, cause they’re about me and I know how much you all want to see me.
This is mom’s favorite back yard weigela bush. It has three different shades of pink blossoms, that all bloom at once. This was the bush Mom was asking Katie to pose in front of in June of 2022 when she and dad noticed how sad Katie was.
Mom says that’s when she and daddy decided it was time to let Katie’s soul fly free. So when she sees this bush in bloom she always thinks about Katie and that day, and it makes her sad.
But did you see what’s on the bush, just to the left of my right ear? Go ahead and look again. Maybe make the image bigger on your device.
See it?
Yep…a butterfly! Mom had been out taking pictures of it earlier, from a good distance away because she didn’t want to scare it off. And then, when she thought it was gone, she took me out there to get my picture with the blooms, and the butterfly flew right around our heads and settled down eating and drinking.
It wasn’t afraid of us at all!
It stayed out there, flying around near us the entire time Mom was taking my picture. Do you think maybe it was Katie come to visit?
As some of you have figured out I’m away from home. I took an opportunity to spend a few days with family down in Alabama.
I couldn’t resist stopping when the wheat was golden in the morning light.
And though I could have flown and made the trip South faster, I chose to drive, because I love to drive and I enjoy seeing whatever there is to see along the way.
And to find a wheat field AND a barn…well….of course I stopped!
This trip went easier than my last trip in November. The road didn’t seem so long, nor the traffic so busy. Not to say there weren’t the normal amounts of stress getting through Indianapolis and Nashville and especially Birmingham Alabama.
I appreciated the art of a farmer’s tracks through rolling fields of grain.
But Sunday morning as I left my hotel in Bowling Green Kentucky I noticed the wheat fields were ripening and the early light was making them glow.
I’m just a sucker for an old barn.
All day Saturday I hadn’t stopped for a single photo. I even managed to resist the exit I’ve been lured into by photogenic barns the last three times I’ve driven down.
I went around a big country block to get this one.
So I thought it was only fair that I take thirty minutes and find a barn or two in wheat fields.
Eventually, last Sunday, I made it here to one of my happy places.
I am not too proud to accept a free peanut! — Nuthatch in flight
So here you go. I’ll try to limit this to some of my most favorite from that early morning walk in the woods a month ago.
Excuse me, if everyone else has had enough, I’d like to approach the hand. — Titmouse
But it’s hard. I have so many favorites.
I’m a little shy, but I’d really like a bit of breakfast, lady! — Chickadee
As I study each of these I’m transported back to that cool morning, surrounded by hungry birds, the deer watching from further back in the trees, the squirrels hurrying so as not to be left out.
Thanks lady! Sometimes we get overlooked cause we can’t fly. — Black Squirrel
The chipmunks hoarding, the sunlight shifting.
I’d like a little more please! — Chipmunk
It’s always a magical time at Kensington, no matter what part of the park you visit.
Too busy to eat, I’m building my future family a new home! — Mrs. Red Belly
But if you want to experience wildlife in a more intimate manner, get there in the morning on a weekday before the crowds and walk the trails at the Nature Center.
It’s the interior decorating that takes the most thought.
Or early on a holiday morning. That works too.
You got to really get in there for the deep spring cleaning required prior to babies’ arrival!
Well, I am, for one. I haven’t eaten breakfast yet, and it’s mid-morning on a beautiful day here in Michigan. Lots of garden stuff to do. Places to be. People to see.
Early morning light through spring skunk cabbage.
But I’d rather be here with you.
Remember when I was out at the heron rookery in Kensington Park on Easter Sunday morning? You didn’t think I’d just leave the park after seeing the herons, did you?
Did you???
A busy neighborhood.
Well of course not.
When I could finally pry myself away from those big nests I went for a walk through the woods. And as soon as I was off the boardwalk I heard this cardinal just singing his heart out and enjoying the morning light at the very top of a tree.
Will sing for food.
Of course when he spotted me, perhaps the first automated bird feeder to arrive that morning, he shot right down to a branch directly in front of me.
Right at eye level.
You DID bring breakfast, didn’t you?
Now cardinals don’t generally come down to my hand to eat, though one did many years ago. But I think this one might have if I hadn’t accidently dropped some seed on the ground.
He was very interested in that.
What? You dropped my breakfast?
So was Mrs. Red Winged Blackbird.
I see an opportunity here.
And so was this squirrel.
I can be faster than all of you!
And this chipmunk.
But my cheeks can hold more seed than any of yours!
In the end I dropped some more for all of them and went on my way.
I remember that some of you have requested more bird pictures. Well of course I have some. Coming right up.
Those of you that remember Katie know that every spring mom took her somewhere to do a yellow flower photo-shoot. It started out as a joke, since mom’s yellow flowers aren’t all that exotic.
But it turned into a fun outing for them and mom got some really sweet photos of Katie smiling at her parks.
Well now, mom doesn’t want to give that up so guess what mom and I did last week?
I suppose that wasn’t very hard to guess, was it!
Yep, mom rushed me over to Katie’s park when the sun came out one day. She had seen lots of yellow flowers in people’s yards and she figured as long as the park staff hadn’t mowed we’d be good.
And we were!
There were sooooo many pretty yellow flowers that I could hardly decide where to sit. In fact I didn’t want to sit at all.
I mean, if you’ve got the space and time, why not run through the yellow flowers with the wind in your furs? Right? So I did.
Several times.
Mom says I’m a very good model. I say as long as she has treats I’ll be a good model.
Cause if there’s one thing that Katie taught me it’s that you only have to sit for one photograph as a time and the flow of treats should be constant. And when the treats are done, so am I.
Thanks Katie-girl. You’re the best big sister ever!
Now I have to go comfort mom because she says that after looking at these pictures she realizes that I’m growing up too fast. She says she wants to slow it all down, but I gotta tell her, there’s no slowing me down!
I was looking at my most recent posts and realize that almost all of them revolve around birds. Even Penny has noticed my obsession.
Kensington Metro Park rookery, as viewed from the boardwalk.
But I can’t help it. They’re so beautiful, and interesting, and entertaining. I could watch them all day.
Reflecting on her anticipated brood.
Wait!
Sometimes I do watch them all day! Like Easter Sunday when I went out to Kensington on my own. I figured it wouldn’t be busy because everybody else would be getting ready for church or family dinners or both.
There’s more than just the rookery to look at, lady!
I was wrong. There were plenty of people, mostly photographers, out there. But we all work around each other and it’s fine.
Outta my way, I’ve got places to go!
I started out walking on the boardwalk near the heron rookery, an island with huge trees filled with heron nests. Every year the heron couples choose a nest and then have a set of little herons there.
It’s fascinating to watch.
Ready for takeoff!
Easter Sunday there was much heron coming and going as the couples updated their fixer-uppers in order to make them meet current esthetics. They definitely favor wood floors over carpet.
This couple appears to be going with a new build v.s. a fixer upper.
I spent a long time out there on the boardwalk watching all the work being done, and then I wandered back into the woods to see what else might be around.
This guy was snapping sticks off the tree, tossing them aside and snapping another until he found the one he wanted, then he flew back to the rookery with his prize.
Change Is Hard 