Birds, Birds, Birds.

7-17-16 VERMONT: I have started catching up on maintenance chores. Today I washed and primed the three rockers that live on the terrace and have been out in the weather for some years. The seats are rotting out so I pulled them off and will rebuild them, but the rest of the white-painted rockers were peeling and mildewed. Tomorrow I may finish paint them and redo the seats.

It’s been a week for birds. The barn swallow chicks, I think I showed a pic a few days ago, are now approaching maturity. The five chicks are looking crowed in the nest, and the parents are back and forth all day long with tasty bugs. The parents fly in, feed some chick and fly back out without landing on the nest. In a few minutes they’re back, one or the other, with more food. I felt a sense of urgency just watching them.

Walking around the pasture, we see lots of other bird activity and many immature birds fluttering around on the new wings looking quite clumsy.

Today while working on the rockers, I saw a bird hopping from branch to branch in the trees and shrubs around the driveway. There were a couple flashes of bright color, so I went for the camera and got a couple pix. I think it’s an oriole, maturing male, so I put out the oriole feeder from a few years ago when we also had a couple of orioles.
Check the pix on the blog and help with the ID’s, anyone.

New blooms: more hybrid daylilies, clematis, first phlox.


Five barn swallows in the nest, in the barn, of course. The parents are working their butts off keeping them fed. There are a couple videos on FB.

White-throated sparrow, juvenile or ???

Savannah sparrow, juvenile or ???

Baltimore Oriole above and below, maturing male or ???



Pickerel weed with UFB.