Spring flourishes

My daughter was excited to spot this tiny bird making its buzzing call as it foraged among the leaves. It seemed never to be either still nor silent, but it was a treat to see.

We also saw a number of yellow-rumped warblers, a palm warbler, and more ruby-crowned kinglets.

A swallow watched us, his mate a few feet away on the fence.

On a walk yesterday, we looked hopefully at the pileated woodpecker nest cavity we watched last year. To our surprise, a bird was peering out — but it wasn’t a pileated woodpecker. It was a northern flicker! I’m not sure if it was resting or trying on the nest for size.

We saw a few other beauties on our walk as well, from various instances of dead-wood art….

…to may apples unfurling their umbrellas.

These are just the things I was able to get pictures of, but among the other sights that have pleased us lately are the brown thrasher we saw “gardening” in the dirt under our bird feeder this morning, the fox that ran beside us for awhile on our bird watching jaunt, and the turkey that startled up and flew away in the brush nearby (nesting?). It’s a great time of year because every few days there is something new popping out of the ground or into the treetops.