Baltimore Oriole

A very quick sighting.  It flew from the little oak tree to the bird garden and then off.  Dan id'd it.

Our favorite woodpecker

The red bellied woodpecker is beautiful.  He's a regular at the suet this summer.  

The birds are driving me crazy

Worst are the starlings.  Maybe they're grackles.  So noisy, squabbling over suet, which they gobble down.  Ingrid and Sharon were quite amused yesterday, however, watching an adult feed suet to a full size baby.

Now there's a swarm of starlings, squawking away; feels like a scene from The Birds.

Amazing - our favorite woodpecker, the red-bellied, who's a regular at our suet feeders, just tried to scare away a starling by HISSING at it.  what an amazing noise!  Alas, the starling and his offspring won out.

The wren is warbling away, hour after hour.  We assume it's a male trying to attract a mate to the birdhouse.  This spring Dan moved the wren house from the bird garden down to the oak tree in the middle of the back garden.  I couldn't stand the wren couple taking over the entire bird garden last year during the time they were on the nest.  Very aggressive about their territory, not allowing any other birds to come to the feeders.

There is a robin soaking in the birdbath, not moving much, not ruffling up its feathers like it usually does.  He thinks it's a spa.