Jelly up

I can't think of a fifteen dollars better spent than what I recently paid for my Heath Oriole Feeder. They don't know me, I get no money to advertise their products, but what a cool contraption! Don't know why it took me so long to get one.

All sorts of birds are enjoying the grape jelly.

I sat on a chair in the shade and watched the continuing parade yesterday morning.

Like this mockingbird, the guy that rules the roost at our house.

I just handheld these with my zoom, was too lazy and indifferent to grab a tripod and the prime lens.

I usually stick an orange on the handy posts, didn't get around to it yesterday but they didn't seem to mind the omission one bit.

First the female oriole showed up.

The hooded orioles, the most furtive of birds, are starting to be a little more trusting.

But one brisk movement on your part and they are history.

The hooded oriole is also known as the palm leaf oriole, they like to nest in fan palms and our tall washingtonia filifera makes a perfect abode.

I like this tail display. Still wonder if they are self conscious of their own immense beauty?

All these red beaks just crack me up!

Scrub jay

Birdwatching is an excellent way to relieve stress.

A female black headed grosbeak gets in on the action.

The feeder is simple and bulletproof, just clean the dish occasionally and you are good to go.

The male was a bit more reticent, content to hang out in the security of the wild grape.

Allen's Hummingbird

Some of you may not know that I supplement my income by occasionally writing course curriculum for an educational company.

They have been exceedingly good to me for many years.

I wrote a Beginner's Guide to Photoshop for them several years ago that I am finally updating. This is basically requiring a complete rewrite.


I am also about to develop an Adobe Lightroom course.

So I am using my down time productively this week working on the material.

And I am enjoying it. Helps keep me current. If you want to learn how to do something, be prepared to teach it.

One of these days soon, if light and wind conditions are right, I am going to set up my tripod and grab the fast prime and hopefully take some excellent shots.