Like 2015, this too shall pass

A little birdie lit on the frost-covered hummingbird feeder this morning …

Birds of a feather

Two bluebirds among a flock feeding on sumac growing around the house.

Bald eagle

May is usually a little late for “snow birding” bald eagles, but this late-stayer was a welcome sight nonetheless. He sat atop a tall cypress in the middle of an old Arkansas River oxbow within sight of Little Rock’s skyline. Such a treat!

On the lookout for his next meal. 

Really red

Scarlet tanager singing his three-part song from the top of an oak tree. Could’ve been an entry in last week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, but ran out of time to post. Love seeing this fellow in our green canopy.

REALLY RED — Summer Tanager’s plumage stands out against the new foliage and catkins of this oak tree.

Birds in the bush

A cardinal pair meets in the bush just outside my office window on a sunny Friday afternoon. Mrs. Cardinal often makes visits to her reflection in the window.

COUPLE — Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal convene on a shrub next t the office.

Misty morning cardinal

Cardinal surveys his domain on a misty Monday morning.

MORNING PATROL — Cardinal gains the high ground.

White pelicans

Pelicans are birds we usually associate with points south, such as Florida or Louisiana. Even though Arkansas is in the birds’ wintering area, it’s still exciting to see them. Here, white pelicans dot the Arkansas River between Ozark and Altus, the epicenter of the state’s wine country. (Drive-by iPhone photo taken Feb. 17.)

PELICANS — White pelicans on the Arkansas River near Altus.

New neighbor

We have a new neighbor — a pair of house finches who have taken up residence in our patio heater, displacing or replacing, a wren who had spent several season nesting there. Mr. H. Finch takes a moment away from homemaking to rest on the deck railing.

ON THE RAIL — Male house finch checks out the world from the deck railing.

Bluebird

The eastern bluebirds have really been hanging close to the house the last few days. Maybe it’s because of the warmth radiating from the house, the plentiful sunshine from the south, or perhaps because there are still a lot of sumac berries for snacking. (There’s plenty of competition for those berries from sparrows, juncos, chickadees, flickers and wrens.)

Eastern bluebird grabs breakfast in the sumac.

A flock to show the passage of time

While I fiddle a lot with little digital cameras, I haven’t quite worked out how to do multiple exposures. So again I turn to Photoshop. This is a composite of three photos in an attempt to show the passing of time as  the morning’s flight of starlings flows from the left and ends in the little tree on the right. The earliest birds are in the lightest gray “screen,” the last ones are in black.