Who's the pretty boy, then?

Definitely one of my favorite summer birds - the Baltimore Oriole.  Not only are they glorious to look at, but they have a rich whistled song that is equally lovely.  I went for a hike meander today along a trail that has marshy habitat and nice new growth forest - ideal for orioles to nest.  I probably saw/heard a dozen male orioles either engaged in singing duels or in high speed chases.  No wonder it took me nearly 2 hours to cover only 2 miles!  Seemed like I was stopping every few feet.  I capture this guy in a perfect patch of light as he was taking a break - no edits needed other than a crop.

In addition to the orioles, I either saw or heard 27 species during my walk - that's really not a banner day considering that we're in prime warbler migration right now, but it was enough to make me feel very happy.  Plus, the weather was perfect - warm and sunny.

The bluebirds definitely have babies.  I was able to sneak a peak this afternoon and as best I can tell, all five eggs hatched.  Madame and Monsieur have been busy all day taking food into the box.  Madame finally discovered the live mealworms I've been putting out and I watched her scarf down about 10 of them in the space of 5 minutes while Monsieur looked on.  Later, I saw her taking one into the nest box, so apparently she is not opposed to feeding them to her babies.  

Speaking of mealies...Wade (Sefferdog) sent me a mealworm farm "starter kit" complete with darkling beetles and mealies.  The beetles, unfortunately, didn't travel well and I am trying to revive them now.  And, no, there is not CPR involved!  I simply placed them all on a wet paper towel to try to re hydrate them.  We'll see what happens.  

Meanwhile, Hubs found a stray mealie in the house and he was NOT amused.  He is also not enthusiasticabout the arrival of the darkling beetles and I know he's secretly hoping my efforts to resuscitate them fail.  Poor hubs - when he met me I was a high-powered executive living in Manhattan.  Now I spend my days running around with a camera photographing bugs and birds and snakes and just about anything else with eyes.  And if that wasn't hard enough to adjust to, I'm now farming meal worms!  The man deserves a medal.  Or maybe some mealies. 

Still no sign of the foxes, so I am certain that Mama moved the den.  This is fairly common with foxes.  And the chipmunks are breathing a bit easier now.  

Three other pics on Flickr, starting HERE with a bee on a weed

Be well, people.
Debbi