Middle of May

The amount of territorial behavior from the hummingbirds seems to ebb and flow.Over the winter it was quite high, then as the population increased early spring it went away. Now there is one old guy running rough shod over three feeders in one corner.

Here he is in one of his two favored lookouts. If any other hummer gets close to 'his feeders' he will buzz over and run them off. He is a little slow but very persistent.

The oriole count is around 4-5 families judging by the adult males. I recently switched one of the  feeders to grape jelly to see how they like it.

There has been a 'western bluebird' house up in a back corner of the yard for 4 to 5 years with nary a bluebird moving in. Several years ago it was filled with small twigs, a very hap-hazard collection but no evidence of family life. I cleaned it out a couple years ago and noticed a couple days ago that small sticks were jammed in the opening again. I have been keeping an occasional eye out for visitors and yesterday saw a small brown bird squeezing inside through the top vent slot. Identification to follow.