roses & new birds

The past two weeks I have, by chance, noticed some new birds in the neighborhood.
Lucky to have my camera to snap a photo and bring them in to look up in the bird guide. Yesterday while on my daily walk I noticed was a pair of unusually colorful birds. They flitting here and there among the yellow flag iris, yellow false indigo and roses at the Brookland Monastery. I went up there to exercise and look to see if my favorite roses were in bloom and this is some of what I saw.

Yellow False Indigo(Baptisia sphaerocarpa)

Iris pseudacorus (yellow flag iris)

adult male Baltimore Oriole sits in a white cedar

Besides the great roses that bird was a real surprise. I can 't ever recall seeing the famous Baltimore Oriole any where and here I saw two a pair, one male and one female and I chased them around the garden for a few minutes trying to photograph them. I got one decent shot once the male took a seat in the tree and sang a little. It was a high point of my week. 

Not long ago I also found an Eastern King bird in my own garden who only passed through and has not reappeared, I assume it was on it's way home to some other place from it's winter's migration home. 

eastern king bird in the choke cherry tree

the eastern king bird is on the fence below the bird house waiting on the dove to leave room in the bird bath for a passing visitor

The tiny House Wren returned to our yard and seems to like that new bird house on the shepherd's hook I installed this year. This weekend he filled it up with twigs. I recently read that the males build as many as 12 nesting sites and the female chooses the one she likes. It is interesting to know this now because in past years he put twigs in several gourds and bird houses I hung in our trees and then I saw the female come visit and choose one before I knew the whole story. I wondered  why he was building so many nests. Now we know!