Good morning and Happy Saturday to everyone! It is a rather cool morning, but we did not get the frost that had been forecast for us. I imagine they did get frost outside of town though. This big lake gives us our own microclimate here in town, at least when it is ice free. So it stays just a bit milder than outside of town. So it was 34F (1C) this morning, not exactly warm but better than having frost. It is not going to warm up much today either, with cloudy skies and a chance of showers.

The birds are busy outside again. Yesterday my oriole showed up, I thought he had left for good since I had not seen or heard him since last Saturday. He was out there huddled down obviously not enjoying the cold, rainy day. So I put out half an orange for him and he was back down within 2 minutes feasting on that orange. They love fruit of many kinds, but seem to like citrus fruits best.

Unfortunately I cannot eat citrus fruit so do not normally have it on hand. I think he still has enough left for today, but I will put out some blueberries and strawberries for him later too. Fruit and insects make up the main part of their summer diet, but there are not many insects around right now. We even had some snow flurries yesterday but the snow melted right away when it landed on the ground. There are still a lot of birds around though most have moved on to their breeding areas.

There are 18 evening grosbeaks still here so I guess they will nest somewhere close by. I do not see my gulls much right now, they would be busy with their nesting. It is cool for sitting on the deck these days, but I still go out there for a short time each day. I just wear my winter jacket. Terrible to be doing that so late in May, but it is the only way to stay warm out there when I am just sitting still. The bear still comes around at different times during the day.

That makes it a little hard for sitting outside, but, summer is short, a person cannot just stay indoors. That would make it impossible to get photos of the birds. Speaking of photos, I really enjoy being able to catch a bird yawning. They do yawn, which a lot of people do not realize. I caught the rose-breasted grosbeak and a chipping sparrow yawning this past week. Their yawns are short, so sometimes I just stay focused on a bird for a while to see if it will yawn, then quickly click!

It is nice to just sit on the deck with a cup of coffee, even in the cold, and listen to all the birds chirping and singing. It is really very beautiful and relaxing. If you have a place to sit outside, then this kind of solitude can be enjoyed anywhere. I do have a bear alarm set up outside, just very simple, but it will slow him down just enough to give me time to get inside.

And I do not need to keep looking over my shoulder to see if he is coming. So I can relax a bit more. But I have a spot to sit and relax with my coffee where I can also see a bear coming. That helps too. I hope you enjoy todays selections of pics as we sit on the deck with a cup of coffee. And hoping that it will actually warm up one of these days. The top featured image are raspberry leaves just starting to show. Have a great Saturday everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)

©2022 Steve McLeod.