Saturday, April 02, 2016

The Birds and the Bees

Spring was only seven days old and we had lots of winged visitors to the cabin. A few even hung around long enough for a photo op.

Bumblebees enjoying spring flowers in my floating garden.

On March 27 everyone seemed to arrive in one fell swoop. Wayne was outside putting stain our deck (he says it's like the Golden Gate Bridge, once you reach the end you have to start painting all over again), and I was gardening. I saw lots of bumblebees gathering pollen from my flowers.

Bumblebee on a Daffodil "tent".

They zoomed right in on my Grape Hyacinths and Daffodils. When dinner is over, they like to spend the night in the centers.

Then came the birds. The sweet Song Sparrow that arrived in January is still hanging around. Now she has lots of new friends. The Hummingbird and Violet-Green Swallows are a week earlier than ever before. One checked out a birdhouses, hopefully to return.

What's for dinner?

We have five Canada Geese nesting in our area. One is a group of three, which seems unusual. The other is a pair. Both groups don't like each other much, calling back and forth especially in the mornings and evenings. During the day there's lots of posturing if they meet in the middle of the bay.

A stately pose.

Isn't this a stately pose? Speaking of stately, we saw four Trumpeter Swans on the lower lake on our way to town. They are rare here, probably stopping over for a rest while flying north from their winter home in Washington's Skagit Valley.

I'm so glad to have the birds and bees are back. It's been a very quiet winter. What's happening in your area? -- Margy

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful signs of spring in your area, Margy. I have been seeing a lot of flying insects including wasps flying about. And pretty flowers blooming.

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  2. It's lovely when the birds return. Lovely spring blooms out your way. I'm sure you enjoyed getting some gardening done.

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  3. Great photos - love the bees. I have a hard time getting them to pose. Wonderful Geese - love the reflection. Not many bees yet - but saw some swallows today - early ones - but there seem to be a lot of bugs for them to swoop down on. I need to get more grape hyacinths - when we had the deck built I forgot to dig them up - and so the are lost forever now - and I love their sweet little flowers in the spring. I saw some lilacs in bloom today. And the dandelions at the little park on the bluffs are in full bloom - I got some nice photos, and thought of you taking sunset photos from the park.

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    1. The bumblebees seem to be slower and rest on plants more. - Margy

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  4. I so love that they are back!

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  5. We have a humming bird menage a trois-two males, one female. I'm seeing more bees than last year, slightly concerned there is not enough to keep them fed.

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    1. How can you tell male from female. They fly so fast! - Margy

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  6. My dearest Margy,
    what a stunning, amazing post you've shared, I'm so grateful to you for this shots 'stolen' from Nature !

    Hope your week is off to a great start, I wish you wonderful days to come,
    sending gentle hugs to you

    Dany

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  7. Hello, the bees and blooms are lovely. I like the geese too. It is great to see the spring summer birds moving back. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Have a great day and week ahead!

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  8. Thanks everyone for visiting my critter post this week. - Margy

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy