Flowers, Birds, and Fake Bears

I've been enjoying the early wildflowers this past week, as well as the birds that have found their way to our treats. Frequent visitors to this site may find me very predictable, since I find it difficult to avoid posting pictures and stories about these flora and fauna. Just humor me.

I believe this one is called the Wood Anemone. In the early morning, when it is still cool, the flowers are often closed up and look like a bell or a Lily of the Valley blossom.

I believe this one to be the Common Blue Violet.

Of course, this is a Dandelion, and in the woods, where they are not overcrowding a lawn, they are quite pretty.

We have had dozens and dozens of finches of all kinds around our thistle feeder. I have to refill it every 24 hours! Blue Jays, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Robins, and other familiar birds have been around too. Hummingbirds have been here in large numbers, and as in the following picture, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are here.

But the real fun this year has been our ability to keep a pair of Baltimore Orioles interested in us. They have tried to use the Hummingbird feeders, but the ones we have don't work too well for them. The female keeps trying to get at the juice from the bottom, and that doesn't work, of course.

But they do like the Oriole feeder I put up. Here is the male.

And here he is enjoying some oranges we put out.

The other news is about Gus, the bear that guards our entrance. Unfortunately, wood ants attacked Gus's base and did very serious damage last summer, through the winter, and this spring. So, I cut a significant portion of the base away, treated the bottom with lots of an epoxy product, and remounted Gus on a new stand that I constructed from treated wood. I also gave him a new coat of fresh paint. Honestly, I don't think I have completely stopped the ants yet, because I still find some little piles of sawdust around the base. I'll have to work on that further, I guess. I sure would hate to lose Gus prematurely, but he is, after all, made of wood, and so I suppose it is inevitable that he will eventually need to be replaced. For now, he looks pretty good, though.