love it when all of the summer song birds show up! the baltimore orioles will sit on top of the fence and loudly voice their displeasure when the grape jelly feeders are empty. it took a couple of years to coax them down from the trees but now that they know i have goodies, they come in droves. i was surprised that the indigo buntings also love grape jelly!

I love this time of year and listening to the birds early in the morning and in the evening. I have the Merlin app.

Right now, our skies are full of Sandhill Cranes.

The birds are busy in the woods around our house, too. I use the Merlin app to identify the birds. Last night we picked up a dozen in just about 30 seconds, including an oriole pair, which we don't often see, that hung around for quite some time. So fun!

Ninapearl -- You don't live in bear country, do you?

My DH once did a story about bear research in the Carolinas. It was early spring, and one of the scientists he was interviewing said, "The bears are breaking hibernation. Quick! Send blueberries!"

Ninapearl -- You don't live in bear country, do you?

nope but i do live in raccoon country. i fought them for years but now that i have the yard fenced and 2 great danes, i haven't seen a coon in a very long time.

I heard hummingbirds squeaking just the other day. I don’t get much wildlife at my new location.

I use the Cornell Lab Merlin for bird IDs.

I use the Merlin app also, It identified 4 different sparrows the other week.

Two weeks ago I was having to fill up my 3 bird feeders daily, as they were being mobbed by a couple of dozen birds all day long. Suddenly this past week the rush is over. I guess some were stopping over during migration, but I didn't spot any that I thought were different than the usual residents.

ETA: I wanted to share a video of my successful hack to keep the squirrels from my feeder, but I couldn't get it to load here. I bought tall flag hanging stakes, instead of typical feeder stake. Along the arms of the flag stakes, I threaded 3 1/2 empty 2 liter soda bottles (having cut off the necks and bottoms.) The feeder then hangs at the outer end of the arm, where it curves up.... when a squirrel climbs up the stake, it can't cross the arm to get to the feeder - the bottles are unstable, spin and dump him off!

Very clever. When we moved I treated myself to new feeders and opted for Squirrel Busters. They're weight sensitive and adjustable - keeps the squirrels off. But it can be entertaining to watch them try.

I LOVE birds. I was going into my garage, right by my neighbor's back porch. There was the loudest bird ever!!! I had to find it, no matter what. I saw it! It was almost as small as a hummingbird?! It was a wren.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UfWac4yxshA

My favorites have their summer colors and begun their visit. As of a couple of days ago. Yay, Gold Finches❣️

I love all your bird info and photos. Nina — is that an indigo bunting? Love them! About where in the country are you located? Tenna?

Thanks for that link, Annie.!

petalique yes, indeed! when they first started coming to my feeders, they only stayed a couple of days. now they're here for most of the summer. they are so beautiful!!

i'm in west central illinois.

maire cate, I splurged on one of those weight sensitive feeders a couple of years ago - but it stopped working before the end of the season. So I opted for this admittedly less pretty method.

It is amusing to see them try to cross the bottles.