These photos are from May 8. Pre-Brood XIII. I have a feeling that the season will now be defined by the emergence of the 17-year cicadas, so this was pre-emergence. Please bear with me through a rather disjointed but short post.
Warbling Vireos were still visible. That’s over by now.
It was even easier to see a few butterflies Pre-Cicada.
I managed to see a Nashville Warbler, albeit distant.
The highlight of the day was seeing this Broad-winged Hawk. We don’t see them often, and when we do it’s only during the summer, according to the Sibley app on my phone.
White-crowned Sparrows were very accommodating this spring.
Indigo Buntings are abundant. Every once in a while I see a female. But everybody is disappearing into the leaf cover.
I did get to see another Chestnut-sided Warbler, sort of.
And an Eastern Kingbird.
Song Sparrows are bored with me.
I did notice a female Baltimore Oriole looking for nesting material.
I followed her up to a tree where she was fashioning her nest. I couldn’t resist taking all these photos of her beautiful creation. And as far as I could tell, she was singing while she worked.
We slipped into a chilly, rainy pattern of weather over the Memorial Day weekend that looks like it will continue for a while, and temperatures will not begin to increase until Friday. Up until now, it’s been nice to leave the windows open, but I have closed them to conserve warmth in the house. It’s not just weather anymore.
Only one thing is certain: Johann Sebastian Bach. I have to practice the prelude to the English Suite No. 2 in A minor as I have decided to play it tomorrow night for the annual choir appreciation dinner talent show. As many times as I have played this as a prelude to the Evening Snack Service, I will need an extra layer of protection against messing it up.
Oh! that’s a tune I hum while I am driving. Anyway nice series of pics on the female Baltimore Oriole nest building.
I loved the shots of the Broad-winged Hawk in flight. It has been a while since I have seen one.
Enjoy the cicadas during your walks and show one or two in your next Post.
Thanks, Bob! I promise I will include a cicada or two. I was thinking about what José said today about the cicadas being bigger in Mexico… I think our annual cicadas are bigger than these are too. Not that we see them as much. We will be cicada experts by the end of the summer.
So that’s what the Baltimore Oriole was singing: “Whistle while you work”?
The Broad-winged was very special for me, in that it spent enough time circling around in good light.