Jelly Feeder Parade

In celebration of the lovely rain God has given us the last couple of days, I thought I would share with you the antics I’ve been watching right from my kitchen window!

Speaking of rain, don’t you love how this time of year -- the leaves seem to just explode once we have some rain?  I think it’s amazing!  You can almost hear the trees saying, “aaahhhh” and their leaves bursting forth.  I tried to think of some other phrase to describe it, but they really ARE bursting forth!

Back to the kitchen window.... I still have some of my regular bird feeders out that were out all winter, but now I also have two hummingbird feeders, half an orange, and a homemade grape jelly feeder.  The jelly feeder is where a lot of the action is happening right now.  (although a hummingbird made an appearance about 5 minutes after I put up my last post about being ready for them!)
The orange half and the grape jelly are for the Baltimore Orioles.   If I have an over-ripe banana, chunks of that go in the feeder, too.

They love it... both Mr. and Mrs. Oriole.

The male Orioles line up to get a chance to eat some!

Last year, I was chopping up bananas to add to the jelly, then I got busy and just stuck a big piece in the feeder. That worked just fine.  

Here's a male with a big piece... later in the season, they will fly off carrying the pieces in their bills to feed their young.  For now, they gobble them up themselves, right at the feeder.

They also like oranges...

 And even suet, when I have it in a bag.  I have not seen them eat it from our suet log though.

  
The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks arrived and thought they should check it out.

Is this stuff to eat???

It's pretty good!

Honey, you come eat some, too...

This is a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.   They sure look different, don't they?  But you can tell them by the large beaks ('gros' meaning large... not 'gross'!) God gave her the right colors to blend in with her nest for protection.  

They mostly enjoy the sunflower seeds but do hop over for some jelly every once and awhile.  Then they wipe their beaks from side to side on the crab-apple tree to clean off the stickiness!

 
Finally, not to be left out, Jumper the Red Squirrel (who really deserves a post of his own and will probably get one someday!) decided to try the grape jelly, too!

Notice where Jumper's hind feet are in this photo!  Jumper is one of the least coordinated Red Squirrels I've ever seen!

One of the things I love about God’s creation is you just never know what you are going to see next!  

Why not put some grape jelly out and see who eats it at your house?