Yup, me too.

and what Lin said!

Here's a few from MOSI today.

Female Cardinal in the bird feeder.



Male Cardinal in Winged Elm tree.



I couldn't get a good picture due to the lighting (darn you, sun!), but is this a Mockingbird?

Nice shots Melanie, especially the Cardinals! I agree, the last four pic's are of a Northern Mockingbird.

Thanks, Lin! There were actually two Mockingbirds and I heard them singing before I spotted them. You guys know I yell at a lot of birds, but I was quite enjoying their songs!

I love to hear the varied songs of the Mockingbird ... even when they sing on bright moonlit nights!

Nice shots Melanie. That male cardinal is gorgeous isn't he? They are so vibrantly colored at this time of year. I often think of them as living Christmas ornaments when they land in trees.
Mockers have such a repertoire! I love to hear them sing too. Yes, Lin, I agree about the moonlit nights. Actually they sing at night -- all night - during mating season when a young male is trying to attract the opposite sex. I've had many people state that they would like to kill them during that time & I can't understand that statement! I think it's pretty cool to wake up in the middle of the night & hear him singing his heart out.

I didn't know that they sing at night. I was trying to figure out what bird I was hearing in the middle of the night at our cottage in northern Michigan. Maybe this bird is what I was hearing possibly. Not many birds sing at night.

A little Warbler in the grass early this morning ...

I'm starting to notice more birds in the grass; I guess forging for food.

Must be time to start putting out extra bird seed for them.

My feeders are full but some of the tiny birds prefer to forage on the ground I guess ... probably easier than trying to push in among the larger birds at the feeders.

Palm Warbler, these little ones constantly flick their tails:


Not sure about this little one ... there were what seemed like a hundred of these tiny little ones flying around this evening and they were so fast I couldn't get a good look at them:

I volunteered at Joshua House today so I went and said hi to the flock of Ibises that seems to live there. I like the way they had arranged themselves in the tree.



This Ibis was on the ground hanging out with the Muscovy Duck.



And I found out one of the ladies that works there is a birder, too! She showed me an awesome picture she had taken of an Osprey in one of the trees eating a fish. You could see the talons and everything. She said she wasn't so thrilled when it left all the bones by the mailbox, but what can you do?

Great shots Melanie and Lin!

Melanie, great shots! Don't you just love when you see a flock of big birds like that in a tree ... living decorations!

It was real foggy here this morning and I got some pictures of an Ibis perched on the power line; there were two up there and I guess they were waiting for the fog to lift before foraging for food. There are three out behind my neighbors house right now; they were all perched on dead branches of a willow tree and then flew down to the ground and were walking along the waters edge, feeding. I will get some pictures downloaded shortly.

I really miss seeing Ospreys; they've been abundant here the past few years and we see lots of them from @ late Nov., early Dec. through May and sometimes into mid June. I always look forward to their return. There are nesting platforms for them all over town, a couple at Walmart and Sams Club parking lots and one right here in my neighborhood by the tennis courts. These are photos from last year and the year before:

Early 2015 .............................................. May, 2015 nest at one of our Walmart parking lots:


From 2014, Osprey in a nest at the neighborhood tennis courts and one perched in a pine tree in the neighborhood.

White Ibis in the early morning fog and then a trio of them once the fog burned off:



Anhinga on the power line and another perched on a rock in a neighbors yard, drying it's wings:


Grackles


Female Cardinal ................................ American Crow ..................................... female Cowbirds?

Lin, great shots of the Ibis in the trees.

Thanks Margaret!

From a few minutes ago ...

Tufted Titmouse


Myrtle Warbler, f/k/a Yellow-rumped Warbler (I think, I can never keep all the little warblers straight.)


Tricolored Heron

I was out on the back porch a few minutes ago and the Ibises flew by and two landed in the dead tree again while a few others landed in the neighbors yard:


And, I heard this little Carolina Wren before I spotted it on the fence:


I'm hearing a Red-bellied Woodpecker right now so I'm heading back out to see if I can get a few pic's of it.

I startled the Woodpecker and he/she took off from the suet feeder before I could get any decent shots


Couldn't get any great shots of the Ibises in the neighbors yard either ...



But I did manage decent shots of a couple of Cardinals