Here at home in NH, we have been getting good looks at migrant birds who are being held back by our cold rainy weather. Yesterday, this lovely, male Indigo Bunting showed up. There's nothing like that blue, so deep and radiant. Just can't get enough of it! Not only did we have an Indigo Bunting, but Phoebe's breeder, who lives in our town, called us up and said she had two! Then another neighbor called today and reported two more. So we have had a little "fall out" of Indigo Buntings in our corner of the world.
The "Prairifire" Crabapples are in full bloom and we have had Baltimore Orioles drinking the nectar from their blossoms. If you want to attract more birds to your yard, plant Crabapples, birds drink the nectar and then, in fall, the small apples attract Cedar Waxwings, Robins, Thrushes, Grosbeaks and more. Pink Impression tulips, my favorite, nicely compliment the Prairifires.Photos © Lillian Stokes, 2007
3 comments:
Perfect timing--I'm looking for some good fruitbearing trees for the backyard. I hope the orioles will go to these, as I've had zero luck on my oriole feeder (modeled after yours, with the orange halves and little bowl of grape jelly). I wish they'd find it!
Orioles may or may not come to feeders, some people have more luck. When we wrote our Stokes Oriole Book we did a survey and found, even in the same town, some people never got orioles at oranges or feeders, some got them the whole summer and some got them just in spring. We have attracted Orioles to fruit and feeders in some years, not others. Crabapple trees are a good bet for Orioles and so many other birds.
Ooh. Now I'm excited. We just planted one. It will be awhile before blossoms are an issue, but I'd love to see orioles drinking its nectar!
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