April showers bring....

.....flowers, of course......

 

 

...ferns in shady spots.....

...swelling blueberries.....

 

 

 

.....tiny walnut catkins and new leaves appearing....

and cottony clouds after the sun comes out.

This is what late April looks like in my backyard.

 

 

(And look what else is going on out there!)





The first clutch of house sparrow babies
being reared in the old birdhouse this year.
 

The color purple

The world outside has exploded into a riot of color in the Carolinas. The blooming trees still have some vestiges of pink, white, and lavender flowers, and in the woods about a thousand soft shades of green are appearing. There are pink and red azaleas, yellow tulips, and blue iris in many yards. The sky is bright blue with fluffy cottony clouds, and the birds are developing their more vivid breeding plumage.

With all these myriad hues appearing outside my window, none seems more appropriate for the month of April than the color purple. Shades of it are everywhere: in the long swags of wisteria hanging from trees, the purple iris blooming in our backyard, the tiny wild violets that appear almost hidden in the grass, and sometimes faint lavender is even mixed with shades of pink and gold in the sunsets on clear evenings.

 

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

Nesting season

One of the things I love most about April is watching the family life of birds as a new nesting season unfolds. Our feeders have been busy with mated pairs of birds stuffing themselves with seed and suet. We've seen pairs of doves, bluebirds, chickadees, northern cardinals, goldfinches, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, house finches, house sparrows, and titmice. The addition of the suet feeders, and a birdbath that is kept clean and full, seem to have made the most difference in attracting a more diverse group this year. We've seen several of these birds gathering nesting material and even mating in the past few weeks, and so I'm sure that there are eggs and hatchlings all around by now. Soon little fledglings will be following their parents to the feeders which is always very entertaining! Nothing is cuter than a baby bird!



Mockingbird eggs. This photo
was taken several years ago.
 

Speaking of eggs, a friend of Gregg's gave us almost 5 dozen fresh eggs last week! It's an eccentric old plumber guy that keeps chickens as a serious hobby. Apparently the hens are laying lots of extra eggs right now, and they are wonderfully rich with golden-orange yolks. Fresh eggs are another great thing about nesting season!