A few from this morning:

It was a busy day here!

- BATH TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ---
First was the Brown Thrasher. They enjoy taking baths & have a grand time doing so.






And he's finished:



Up next was the Carolina Wren. Not an enthusiastic bather.






I have to say though that we have a pair of Red Shouldered Hawks here & I have no doubt they are raising babies so they have all the little birds quite wary.

And then came the bluebirds. A pair. Now they have the problem of the hawks solved. One bathes while the other keeps watch. And then it's turn around time & the watcher gets to bathe while the other one keeps a lookout. First Mrs. Bluebird takes her bath. Then Mr. Bluebird gets his chance.





And then they're done.



They all came right on the heels of one another. I could not get a chance to refill the bird bath before the next bird came.
Then the Blue Jay had his turn. Poor thing; by the time he got here there was not much water left for him.





The bluebird pair are I'm sure, the same pair who is nesting in this bird house. I kept watching them come & go all day but they are shy & every time I tired to take a photo they would fly away. I played as if I was weeding & darned if every time I bent down, 1 or the other would slip into the house but let me get the camera at eye level & all bets are off. Mrs. bluebird sits on the other house while Mr. Bluebird slips in to feed the babies & then she slips in after he is through. I managed to get a photo of Mrs. sitting on the roof of the other house.



And a pair of house sparrows is nesting in this little house hanging from an oak tree. They are extremely quick & I have not been able to get a photo of them going inside although I have witnessed it numerous times.

Oh Ann, such a bird paradise there in your garden. Great shots! I am envious of the bluebirds and Brown Thrasher. I sure wish I had those here in my garden.

I was reading today that bluebirds tame easily. While I do not wish to tame them, I am looking forward to when they get used to me & are no longer shy. I know this will eventually happen but I am anxious for it to happen NOW.

And all the birds will get used to us. The Thrashers we had down south got quite accustomed to us & we could get pretty close. I really love the thrashers; I think they are beautiful, regal, striking & they have the most beautiful song. And their eyes are something else!

I do wish, wish, wish I had them. You are very fortunate.

I can't complain because I do have lots of birds here in my yard. But I want the ones I don't have.

And I'm sure you have birds that I do not. And there are birds I wish I had.

When I was younger I used to see red winged blackbirds & haven't seen one in years & years & years. We used to see quail like gangbusters but I can't tell you the last time I saw one. Actually I can --- at a wildlife hospital/ sanctuary. And I dream of seeing orioles & tanagers.

Maybe the tanagers will show up here.

Oh Ann, what a wonderful series of bathing birdie beauties! Love it them all!

At our other house the Carolina Wrens nested in a Purple Martin House that I had in the backyard ... I keep forgetting to ask our tenants if they've noticed any nest activity. They have two little dogs so birds might be frightened from nesting in the area anymore. This past winter we had a few Wrens around here and I was hoping they'd take up residence in one of the birdhouses but they are gone now and I'm not sure where they went; maybe they decided not to hang around because of so many Blackbirds and Grackles? We had lots of Brown Thrashers at the other house too but I've only seen them sporadically in the 1 1/2 years I've been in this house. I do like the song of the Red-winged Blackbirds and I've seen more this year than ever before in my life ... wish I could send some up your way, LOL. I'd love to see the Eastern Bluebird down here! I've been birdwatching for many years and have only seen a bluebird at my feeders a couple of times back in the 90's I think it was. A long time ago we would see a family of Northern Bobwhite (Quail/Partridge), and also the Whip-Poor-Whill but I haven't seen those in quite some time although we still hear their calls in the summer months. Yesterday I spotted for the first time ever a male Orchard Oriole but by the time I got my camera out it was gone! I'm hoping they will be back again so I can get a picture!

Spring is such a glorious time of year ... keep those bird photo's coming!

Oooooooooooo lucky you spotting the Orchard Oriole! If they're where you are then they must be here too. I am keeping my eyes peeled. I know that I haven't really even begun to sight all that is here as we are still trying to organize & get settled so time for bird watching & grabbing binoculars to catch sight of this one & that one is very limited at this point.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for rain today. I keep looking at the radar & so far it looks like once again it's not going to get us.

Ann, I've been doing rain dances for weeks and weeks, and still no raindrops appearing for our area! Maybe today will be the day! I think we need a little emoticon of a cloud with raindrops spilling out ... ya think that would help our severe drought conditions?

I thought I'd share these photo's from @ three years ago. Brown Thrashers taking two different types of baths.

Water Bath and ... Air Dry:


Sand Bath (to remove mites from their feathers):

flaflwrgrl said:I was reading today that bluebirds tame easily. While I do not wish to tame them, I am looking forward to when they get used to me & are no longer shy. I know this will eventually happen but I am anxious for it to happen NOW.

And all the birds will get used to us. The Thrashers we had down south got quite accustomed to us & we could get pretty close. I really love the thrashers; I think they are beautiful, regal, striking & they have the most beautiful song. And their eyes are something else!

I have a thrasher who will come up on the front porch looking for food. Great pics, Ann!

Oh! Very cool about that Thrasher Mary!

Wonderful photos everyone, love those bathing beauties.

I was outside on my back porch early this morning reading the paper and having my coffee as usual and although I haven't filled the feeders in a couple of days there was still a bit of suet and seed in one of the feeders that the Mockingbirds were enjoying. All of a sudden the birds began raising a ruckus of distress type calls and I figured a neighborhood cat was nearby but when I stood up and looked I saw a different visitor ... a snake! I did an on-line search to identify it and found that it's non-venemous Banded Water Snake - but still yipes! a SNAKE! One of the Mockingbirds flew to the ground for a closer look and started spreading and shaking it's feathers and squawking ... I guess it was trying to scare the snake away. The snake stayed for about 30 minutes and then slithered back into the water.

Cool photos of nature in action Lin! Kudos!

flaflwrgrl said:Cool photos of nature in action Lin! Kudos!

From what I read about the snake, the birds should be safe from it, but doesn't mean they know that! Better safe than sorry is probably their motto.

Thanks ladies! Linda, Yes I read that those water snakes eat fish but not birds ... thank goodness!