I was visiting my parents home, which is the farm where I grew up. They have a number of bird feeders scattered about and while I was visiting saw so many different birds. In my suburban home I get your typical finches, house sparrows, cardinals and woodpeckers, but I couldn’t believe all of the birds they had visiting their yard. And they love feeding and watching the birds and their antics. I, too, love sitting on my deck watching the birds flitting about, interacting with each other. It is a peaceful way to spend some quiet time and reflection.

I only was able to capture three of the birds, but there were also, gold finches, indigo buntings, mourning doves, blue jays (some people don’t care for them), house wrens just to name a few. Here are the three that I did photograph.

Bluebird: This medium-sized bird likes open areas, however this bluebird was near the house and checking out digs of his own. A member of the thrush family, the male is blue with a rose-beige plumage. They typically like open areas along with platform feeders. The bluebird is coveted by gardeners in North America and eat a lot of insects. Like many other birds, female birds are less brightly colored but the patterns are similar.

Baltimore Oriole: This bird has a black head and black wings and tail with an orange breast, tail and shoulder. They love eating fruit, such as oranges on a nail like the photo above. The female is olive-brown with a dull yellow-orange under parts and two dull white wing bars.

Rose-breasted grosbeak: This bird is in the cardinal family. The male is black and white with a red breast. The female has dark grey-brown upper darker wings and tail, a buff stripe along the head and black-streaked white under belly. It, too, eats many insects and seeds.