I thought I'd start off the bird gallery this week with a few pictures of Spring's flowering all stars. Below are some of the tulips and grape hyacinths I have in my yard.
Seeing these guys in bloom (the pictures don't do the hyacinths justice, they are a beautiful deep blue/purple) is just as much a reminder of the coming spring as is the bird song I hear more and more of lately.
Still having lots of grackles coming by, they tend to taper off as we get deeper into spring and early summer. For now, however, they're thick as thieves. At least they're reasonably behaving themselves and not being too aggressive with the other birds.
Here's a fun mourning dove couple enjoying breakfast. I always wonder how far some of these guys fly to get breakfast at my house: I don't see a lot of nesting in the trees that are within sight of my backyard.
Given the nesting calls, the pairing off I see (and past experience), my guess is that I'm not far off from seeing some fledgling doves begging mom or dad for a seed in the yard.
In the gallery below I've got a mix of birds eating, tapping away at the seeds like telegraph keys. Pay careful attention to the posture and position of some of them. It's one of the ways I've noticed that their relative aggressiveness shows up (though sometimes it's as much a case of them being alone and seeking out the tastiest seeds).
Oh, and one more fun one, keep your eyes peeled for a male grackle showing out for a lady grackle.
