A Beautiful Saturday Morning

Good morning everyone,
   
    I have been up and out by 7 am to replace the orange quarters for the orioles. If I do not get out there then they have discovered that around the house is where I feed the hummingbirds. They have tried but they are much too big for their feeders. lol  and They do not need to do that as I keep their large nectar feeder full.
   They are a joy to watch and have now been here every day for over a week. I needed to go into town yesterday to buy two large bags of oranges. I bought naval oranges as they had the best price and are larger too.
   I got a couple photos that I took of them through the kitchen window that faces where I hang other feeders. This photo was a challenge to bring it in closer to see and to avoid all the stuff sitting out there. The orioles are sitting on the wisteria that has really greened up since last weekend. the black on top is the overhang.

  Just enlarge for better viewing

I took this next photo early yesterday evening.

   It was lovely this morning, lots of turkeys talking away in a field plot nearby, the geese pair came up looking for corn, and Miss Calico following me around.

April had been so cold or stormy that I had no chance really to seriously work in my gardens. Since last weekend we finally have spring weather in the 70's with rain soooo everything is green and growing much too fast especially the weeds. 
   Today I hope be get allot accomplished before the storms return tomorrow.

and today is Cinco de Mayo Day.  We love Mexican foods so I am thinking of making something with the homemade chiorzo that our friends made and brought down to us last weekend.

Enjoy your day everyone

Orioles Still Here-Photos and Information

  I had been sad because we have very very few hummingbirds. Usually by now we have 50 at the very least. The colder than normal April must have sent them on a different course or they just did not travel all the way to us. We are lucky to see 4 or 5 during the day.

  However, we have been blessed with the Baltimore Orioles. We are thinking they may just have decided to nest here in our woods. As over the last few days now we just see the males at the feeders. They are considered weavers and nest in the wood's edges or small clumps of trees-not deep in the woods.
    To attract them I put out citrus quarters mid April and if lucky we may see a few for a couple days. This year so far they have stayed. I have gone through lots of juice oranges-4 a day, and will need to go to town tomorrow to buy more. 
   They are so beautiful that I could just sit and watch them for hours.  I did remember that I still had an oriole feeder. The nectar is weaker than the Hummingbird nectar. The orioles use 5 cups of water to 1 cup of sugar (Hummingbirds use 4 to 1)  
  I have had friends say they just use grape jelly-I am not crazy about that as most have preservatives in it and they love oranges and grapefruits more.
  Information about them here  and here with lots of photos and their nest here  Their pretty song here

Click photos to fully enlarge with better viewing