Lots of Orioles visiting these last couple of days, and I am squeezing out every drop of summer I can get. I love how different they all look and how wonderful they move with the music. This is again with the Ceyomur CY95 trailcam, which I keep loving because it is so versatile, reliable and easy to work with.

I put up another little fountain this year. My red paint came off and no hummers visited (so far) but it got plenty of attention, especially from the Orioles. They have the pond but all love to drink here.

They have become less frequent but they are still visiting… I always like the thought of helping travelers from farther north on their journey south. And for some reason funky music always works great with birds 💃

July brings the baby birds, and right now, the Orioles are seemingly everywhere. Young birds follow their parents around to learn how to find food but they also still rely a lot on them and beg for food. They are bumbly and cute and you can tell they are babies. It is just a joy to watch them. (only photo 1 is a baby here)

The backyard is full of baby birds, and they all come down to the pond. Here's a Baltimore Oriole with two young ones. A Rosebreasted Grosbeak watches on, his offspring came later. This clip I recorded with a CY95 trailcam. I'm fairly new to trailcams but I love the video quality, and that it comes with a solar panel!

Grape jelly is one of those things my German brain would never have thought of to feed to birds, but here we are. I only put it out in the warm season, mostly for the Orioles, but many others enjoy it as well, like Robins, Woodpeckers, House Finches and yes, even Chickadees. Go as natural as possible. Here’s to a great week!

Yesterday, I felt good enough to put the pond back together. I've missed watching it and the bird bath was not that well-visited. I also put out my photo setup again. Just one, and here are some visitors. A female and a male Redwinged Blackbird, a wet Blue Jay and a confused Oriole (wrong dish, mister!) I am livestreaming the pond on my website and on birdsy.com, check it out :)

I finally put out the photo setups again, and today I got some nice photos of two of the many Orioles in front of the Chestnut tree. It is really wonderful to walk around outside right now, the air heavy with the most wonderful smells from the blooming trees and the songs of the birds. And it feels good to see the birds up close again, I have missed their faces.

We've had so much rain and storming that I didn't put the photo cams out in the last couple of days, but the Birdsy cams are all rolling. This was earlier today, Orioles are on the move but I am getting a nice and steady stream. They don't like to share!

Another busy week has passed,

and I was finally able to solve my computer issues by upgrading. And I took some time for photos too. There are still no hummingbirds, which is a bummer, but I am still keeping up hope. The baby birds are pretty much ruling the backyard, and it is tough to find good shots because they have that toddler energy 😆

The weather

has been interesting, with lots of rain and cooler temps after the hot and dry weeks. I am happy to see the lawn and garden grow, also because I know that all the baby birds that are growing everywhere are getting good nutrition from all the bugs and worms. After a bit of a hiatus the Orioles have returned in full force today, a good sign that their babies are getting bigger and ready to fledge. I loved seeing the very beautiful female Cardinal, the adorable baby Grack, and seeing the return of the most interesting Redbellied Woodpecker (in photo 2). Is it a boy? Is it a girl? The last photo is a regular male. It is the calm before baby birds are flooding the yard. Good times.

I worked in the veggie garden today,

and there was so much bird song going on that I put out Merlin to tell me who sings. Merlin picked up a lot, even a Tennessee Warbler, which makes me want to go explore. While I was shoveling, I spotted this guy, an immature male Orchard Oriole. I usually get an Orchard O at least for a day or two and was hoping this year too, so this was very nice. I love how his brown adult feathers are creeping in on the “bib”. I also saw a Catbird today, hopefully it comes to the feeders too.

The orange mood-boosters

have taken proper residence, and their songs can be heard in the tree tops all day now. There are more than six individuals visiting, adult males and females as well as non-breeding birds. It is interesting to see their color variants, ranging from yellow to yolky to deep orange. They have also begun to build nests, as can be seen by the one that stopped by on her way to the construction site.

Sometimes, complaining pays off,

it seems. Since yesterday, things have changed a lot in the yard. The Baltimore Orioles have finally arrived, and along with them, several Rosebreasted Grosbeaks as well. This morning, I can hear them all sing up in the trees too, and it is so uplifting! Here are some male Orioles and a female Grosbeak from yesterday. I have set my Birdsy camera with the Oriole feeder to stream live on birdsy.com, check it out!

It was a fun day.

Happy Sunday!

I am continuing with the introduction of the calendar birds. The choice for June was a tough one. I knew I wanted an Oriole, and since this season there was an abundance of them, I also had an abundance of photos. The wet Baltimore Oriole was my first pick because it is just such an unusual look and I loved the background and lighting. However, the bird is not entirely identifiable, so eventually, it was out. The “Tequila Sunrise” one is another favorite for the beautiful colors but somehow it lacked something. The final choice was an Orchard Oriole, and I chose it because I loved the gentle pose and felt like this beautiful bird deserves some attention.

The end of the summer

is always bittersweet but when fall migration has started, the backyard becomes alive with flocks of travelers. Some are just stopping for a short break while others stay for a couple of days. This is the case with Baltimore Orioles right now. I have added an extra jelly feeder, and the cups need to be refilled several times a day now (I also clean the cups with each refill). It is always wonderful to see the full spectrum of color variations at display when indivisuals of various ages come together. And in between, the Robins, Woodpeckers and Finches (the one pictures has a very interesting molt going on) also get their share.