I’m getting way behind in posting backyard spring pictures!  So here’s a nice collection of the birdie goings-on around Stoneybrook West…

We have a pair of Brown Thrashers who have been making an appearance each afternoon in my back rose bed.  They are quite regular.  I wonder if they may have a nest in our viburnum?  I had thought that I would trim it after the Painted Buntings leave, but I’ve had so many birds moving in and out of the bushes that I think I may have to wait until after spring nesting season is over.

The American Goldfinches continue to grace us with their sweet calls and cheerful presence.  I haven’t seen a male in the past few weeks.  (Males are distinguished by their bright black heads.)  The females continue to visit our niger feeder.  Their feathers are turning brighter by the day.  It’s going to be sad when they too leave us.

The House Finches are bright red and they have started to sing as they attract their mates and begin to build their nests.  They’ve learned to appreciate the Painted Bunting feeder, which has a cage surrounding it to protect the little birds from being evicted by the big bully birds.

There are Northern Mockingbirds all over the place!  They’ve already started to raise their first broods of the year.  You can hear the babies’ shrill calls all over the neighborhood.  Baby birds aren’t exactly as discrete as their adult parents; they fuss and fuss until their parents feed them!

The backyard is overrun with Brown-Headed Cowbirds.  They clean out my tube feeder and tray feeder every couple of days.  The male has a bright brown head, and the female is smaller and brown all over.  These birds will introduce their eggs into other birds’ nests, and lots of bird species are “birdbrain” enough to raise the scrawny brown guys along with their own young!

A lone female Lesser Scaup lingered on the Town Commons/Tour Pointe pond earlier this week.

The Double-Crested Cormorants have re-appeared, swimming on our ponds in flocks.  They weren’t around in these numbers during the winter, either at home or at the Circle B Bar Reserve.

We’ve been seeing “Shrek the Shrike” on his weeping willow trees again.  He sits up at the top of the same tree, pretty much every afternoon.   He and his wife Fiona raised a nice little family in that tree last year.  I told him that I’d lug The Beast down to the pond if he’d let me photograph his family again this year!

The Fish Crows have ben building their nests (when they are not busy tormenting the mockingbirds and trying to steal their eggs!)  There are lots of babies on the way to the neighborhood!