I wish I could take you by the hand and show you the magic of my world in real time. You’d hear the song of the Northern Cardinal, and feel the scented breeze on your skin as the sun warms your tired bones.

But, alas, I can only share my world with you through the lens of my camera. Come along with me, will you, the best is yet to be.

The birds of spring have all arrived, from the Baltimore Orioles to the Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. Let’s start with the orioles, shall we.

As in the past, the male is elusive and damn hard to capture with my camera. However, I know how to entice the female Baltimore Oriole to pose for me. String. I sprinkle fine strands of string throughout the yard, and she comes and gathers them for her nest, stopping to thank me along the way.

Female Baltimore Oriole with a strand of string.

A Baltimore Oriole nest takes a lot of string but no worries, I have plenty.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.birdrap.com

Now for my Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. Truth, I have two males spending time at my sunflower feeder. They first arrived while I was suffering through a nasty bout of the flu a couple of weeks ago. I thought I was hallucinating when I saw them outside my bedroom window, but, nope, two males for twice the beauty.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

I happen to think the female Rose-Breasted is mighty spectacular as well.

Female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

Sure, the male got the scarlet red chest, and the classic black and white feathers, but the female of the species has some fine markings all her own. Plus, she has golden chest feathers. Bravo, Mother Nature.

This past Saturday, after I finished a long day working in the gardens, Harlee and I spent some time relaxing. We sat and watched four Tree Swallows perform their courting flights. Of course I didn’t get any pictures, they more too fast for me. Although, they did stop and rest at the top of one of my oak trees, and I was able to capture a few nice shots even if I was underneath them.

No springtime blog post would be complete without the mention of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

Male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Shannon and St. John are still making their daily visits. St. John keeps a watchful eye while Shannon relaxes or eats. I hope she has some eggs in the nest and isn’t leading St. John on. He’s too nice a duck to be scammed by a sweet quacking hen.

The Great-blue Heron strolled through my yard last week. She is a truly magnificent bird, and one of these days I’m going to hop on her back and demand she take me for a ride.

Great-blue Heron taking a walk through one of my gardens.

I hope you enjoyed this little visit, I know I loved having the company. It gets lonely here in my little corner of the Concord River, and now and then I’d love another person to talk to.

Harlee is a great companion but he’s not much of a conversationalist.

Oh, one last thing before you go.

The American Goldfinches finished molting.

Blessed be :}

The following is a blatant attempt to sell you something.

If you’re interested in purchasing some of my photographs as greetings cards and other nifty items, visit my store at Redbubble.com. The money I earn helps to pay for the duck’s corn. Thank you.

And don’t forget about my newest book.

Okay, now you can go.