Spring’s Pageant

tanjabrittonwriter 66 Comments

Between birding and gardening, I have not been able to settle down long enough to write a coherent story, so my post(s) about Taos, New Mexico, will have to wait.

Spring is the time when birds migrate from their wintering to their breeding grounds. Some will build their nests, lay their eggs, and raise their chicks right here in our neighborhood, but others will continue on to farther reaches to bring forth a new generation, some as far as Canada or Alaska. To see certain migrants, such as shorebirds, I have to visit bodies of water with exposed shoreline, where they forage for food, whereas other migratory birds will grace and beautify our lives by coming straight to the feeders in our garden.

The first lupine is ready to open in our garden. Another wildflower also sneaked in. Which one?

May might be the year’s most pleasant month, no matter in which hemisphere we make our home. If you asked me which one was my favorite, I would chose May without a moment’s hesitation: The days are getting longer, I’m awakened by a sweet morning chorus tumbling from avian throats, trees are turning green with emerging leaves, wildflowers are stretching their limbs and poking their heads though the softening soil, and butterflies are making regular appearances.

Red Admiral Butterfly on dandelion, an important early-season nectar source

One of the ways I enjoy the unique specialness of this month is by sitting in a camp chair in the corner of our garden with a direct view of the bird feeders, with binoculars and camera at the ready. I have whiled away hours in this pleasant pursuit and the birds tolerate my presence after a little while. So without further ado, I would like to present to you some of the protagonists of spring’s marvelous pageant, all new arrivals within the last ten days (I hope our regular feeder birds won’t take offense at not being featured 😊). These colorfully-clad visitors steal and gladden my heart without fail, and I hope yours also.

To enlarge a photo, click on it. To read its caption, hover cursor over it.

Western Tanager in a young aspen tree
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak
Black-headed Grosbeak
Bullock’s Oriole, trying to get to the hummingbird nectar!
Bullock’s Oriole, enjoying orange and grape jelly.
Lazuli Bunting
Lazuli Bunting

66 thoughts on “Spring’s Pageant”

  5. Amazing visitors, what colours!
    May is usually a great month, this year not so much. After the garden Blackbirds deserted their young the Blue Tits in the nest box have lost their brood after a week. Guess it’s a lack of natural food due to the poor spring. Not even a damsel or dragonfly by my pond yet.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • The colours are very uplifting, especially after a looong, drab winter!
      Sorry to hear about your absence of insects and failed broods. They are very disconcerting signs of nature out of balance. 😢

      Like

      Reply

  8. As I understand it, the red admiral is among butterflies with the largest geographical range, including not only Colorado and Texas (I’ve often seen them in Austin) but also Europe (I assume you grew up seeing them in Germany).

    That western tanager is so colorful.

    Your favorite month is named for Māia, an Italic goddess.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to butterflies growing up (much to my present-day regret). But I have seen Red Admirals during return trips to Germany in the last years.

      Western Tanagers are absolutely lovely. The degree of orange/red on their heads varies, and at times really glows–definitely happy-making.

      I have known a few Maias in this lifetime, even though I wasn’t aware then they were named for a goddess.

      Like

      Reply

  9. I recognized the Oriole, but I’ve only seen one, and I’m told it probably was a migrating Baltimore Oriole. I did notice last week that my upstairs neighbor has an orange half in a holder among her feeders. I’ll have to ask her if she’s had any visitors to that. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy your birds, and your enjoyment of them.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. May is indeed a beautiful time of year! What sheer delight to sit in your backyard and see so much beauty. Wonderful pictures, and not one of the birds you featured are birds I have seen in Maine.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • Danke für den Hinweis, liebe Maren. Seine Bilder (und Kamera) sind natürlich einige Klassen besser als meine. Manche seiner Vögel sind auch mir unbekannt, weil ich leider noch nie im östlichen Teil der USA nach Vögeln geschaut habe. Das möchte ich unbedingt nachholen!
        Dir noch ein schönes Wochenende.
        Tanja

        Liked by 1 person

      • Ich kenne Andreas auch nicht persönlich aber online schon bestimmt 20 Jahre – er ist immer besser geworden und in Iowa muss es auch sehr spannend sein, was die Gefiederten betrifft.
        Das Leben ist viel zu kurz, man schafft nicht alles 😉
        Gruß
        MAren

        Liked by 1 person

  16. May is pretty wonderful as are your photos of the migrating birds. We’re still getting plenty, too, as they wing their way northward. Enjoy your birding and I’m pretty sure your resident birds don’t mind the interlopers taking up your time. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you, Tina. Living in Texas, you likely get to see a far greater variety of birds than I in Colorado, but I’m so pleased that some of them deign to make a stop in our garden.
      Thank you for reassuring me that our resident birds will forgive me for dividing my attention. 😊

      Like

      Reply

  17. Was für farbenfrohe Vögel. Fast alle mit Gelb oder Orange, aber auch die “Blauen” sind schön. Tolle Farbigkeit. Ich kann dich gut verstehen, daß du dort sitzt und auf die Vögel wartest 🙂 Was braucht man mehr?! LG Almuth

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. We had a major storm a few nights ago and had a mini-fallout in our area – amazing quantity of birds all grounded after a heavy night of winds and rain – sad for them.. a goldmine for us ha. Lovely shots – Western Tanagers are in a league of their own and Lazulies may be my favorite bunting – only seen them once when we were visiting Red Rocks Ampitheatre. Also where I saw the Bullocks for the first time. A fine day to be out, that’s for sure.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Anything can happen at this time of year. Last year we had a blizzard in the middle of May, bringing us a foot of snow. I felt so bad for the birds and kept brushing off and replenishing the feeders.
      I hope your weather will clear soon and your birds will be unscathed. It’s always devastating to learn of mass die-offs in the wake of extreme weather events.
      I feel so lucky to have these beauties return to our feeders each year.

      Like

      Reply

  21. Beautiful, Tanja. May is a wonderful month, the warmer weather gathering pace and that energy of life in the wildflowers and birds.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you, Wally. I DO feel reluctant to spend much time away at this time of year. Case in point: If I had left today, I would have missed my FOY Rose-breasted Grosbeaks: a female this morning, and a male this afternoon. 😊

      Like

      Reply

  24. So many beautiful birds…isn’t it great when spring comes along to raise our spirits after the discomforts of winter. And that Red Admiral is great too – didn’t know you also had them in the US, but here in the UK they’ve been on the wing for 2 or 3 weeks, definitely one of my favourite butterflies.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you, Mr. P. Come April, I start looking at the records from previous years to see when I can expect the earliest arrival of certain bird species, and it’s always a joyful occasion when they finally make an appearance.
      I don’t pay such close attention to the timing of butterfly arrivals, but they make me happy as well. I don’t think there are any winged creatures who don’t make my heart beat a little faster.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.