This week has been gorgeous! ––the weather, the birds and their spring songs, the flowers (and, unfortunately, their pollen!). I think, I hope, that spring is really here. I got my hopes up when one of my favorite flowers burst into view a few weeks ago, the Early Snow Glory. I love this purple/blue star with its snow center and lively slender yellow stamens. This year, they’ve migrated all over my yard. Beautiful.  The hyacinths, grape hyacinths, and daffodils have all blossomed, with lilac and pink hyacinths just now drooping their flowers.    But now the Bleeding Hearts are taking over.

The birds are wonderful to see, too. The Gold Finches have transformed from winter olive-drab to brilliant yellow. The house finch couple, the male looking as if he had been “dipped in strawberry syrup” (Peterson’s), are showing up far more often. A more romantic pair are the cardinals; the scarlet male tenderly (really) feeding his olive Mrs.––or Ms.

The Red-Winged Blackbird whistles his presence then bares the startling orange and yellow of his epaulets. Best of all is our pair of male

Rosebreasted Grosbeaks. Their black hood, the flash and flicker of black and white patterns on their fluttering tails and wings, and the liquid pink on their chests are a visual delight.

Maybe last year’s Baltimore Oriole will return?  I think I’ve heard his song, sometimes, in the trees behind my house.

Oh yes, the humans aren’t the only ones in our house who enjoy bird watching.