As spring officially settles in, one of the things we eagerly anticipate is the return of the scissortail flycatchers to our state. They arrive famished after a long migration, eager to satisfy their hunger with the abundance of bugs now buzzing around.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - A classic view.

This year, however, our excitement was tempered by a tinge of sadness. A vast meadow, once alive with the sight of scissortail flycatchers darting amongst wildflowers, had been mowed down to make space for frisbee golf. While this may invite some more people to the park and let them enjoy the outdoors, I can’t imagine if that still justifies the destruction of this wonderful habitat. We have lots of wonderful memories there with all the wildflowers, Scissortails, Dickcissels and Northern Bobwhites.

Scissortail in the wildflower meadow, a photo from a couple of years ago.

A backlit view from the same field. One of our most favorite scissortail silhouettes.

While the field still saw some action, it wasn’t quite the same. Amidst our busy schedules, we managed only a fleeting visit, yet were still treated to the delightful sight of scissortails going about their evening routines.

Flycatching! We often see the same bird catching more than a hundred insects during a single outing at the park.

Amidst the chaos of the semester’s end, there’s a silver lining to look forward to the nesting of bluebirds. This marks the third time they’ve chosen our backyard as their nesting grounds, bringing with it a flurry of activity as they tirelessly feed their hungry hatchlings. We will write a separate blog post with the stories of the nesting bluebirds.

Mama bluebird keeping an eye on the nesthole.

Our backyard, usually bustling with familiar feathered friends, seemed even livelier this time around. Mockingbirds, blue jays, ceder waxwings and bluebirds were busy foraging for bugs, a sight more pronounced than in years past. Could it be our pesticide-free yard that attracted them? Regardless, it’s heartening to see them enjoying a feast of juicy bugs.

American Goldfinch, finally with its bright breeding plumage.

A handsome Blue Jay.

Northern Cardinal at our fairy feeder early in the morning.

These male cardinals are indeed very birght!

Clay-colored Sparrows visit during the spring migration. Love their subtle coloration.

The emergence of leaves on dead looking branches within a matter of a week never gets old. The fruits follow the leaves on our backyard Cottonwood tree and they always look photogenic until they burst into a huge amount of “cotton” carrying the seeds along. It would make our backyard somewhat messy at that point. But, until then, we enjoy the nice-looking fruits and the birds moving around them.

Cottonwood ready to blow off all the “cotton”.

Around this time of year, the warblers are a delight to watch as they hop around the branches, searching for juicy bugs hidden under each stem. With more leaves on our backyard cottonwood tree, the warblers play an endless game of hide and seek with us. A bright little yellow warbler also paid us a brief visit, adding a splash of color to the scene.

Hippity hoppity Yellow Warbler… jumping from one branch to another while searching for insects.

The flowers on the pecan tree are the perfect spots for finding them!

Yellow-rumped Warblers were about to leave by then. They get darker as they develop their breeding plumage.

We were delighted to find a Nashville Warbler in the yard.

Yellow Warblers sang all day on our pecan tree although most often they were hidden behind the leaves. This was one rare occasion when this bird came out in a relatively open spot for a nice view.

Cedar Waxwings are most visible during cooler months, but our neighborhood berries were not all finished off even in May. So, some of them had show up, right? These fruit lovers are one of the most uniquely handsome birds of North America. The name waxwing comes from the “waxy” red tips of the secondary feathers. These are colored by a pigment called astaxanthin, but not all individual birds have them. The waxy wingtips tend to develop more as they age. The use of these waxy tips is not fully understood.

Cedar Waxwing showing off the waxy tips of the feathers…

From the look it appears that our handsome fella here (not sure if male or female) is a mature adult. Observing the waxwings at this time of the year often comes with seeing their courtship ritual, which is wonderful to see, but we never got a good enough photo/video. Quoting Cornell Lab of Ornithology on how it works: “During courtship, males and females hop towards each other, alternating back and forth and sometimes touching their bills together. Males often pass a small item like a fruit, insect, or flower petal, to the female. After taking the fruit, the female usually hops away and then returns giving back the item to the male. They repeat this a few times until, typically, the female eats the gift.” Have you seen this behavior?

Different sets of wildflowers keep blooming in our yard over the course of the warmer months, which also means the arrival of butterflies! Most butterflies were drawn to the late wildflowers, as our garden bed was mostly empty. Some of these wildflowers were very very tiny, which is hard to understand from these extreme closeups. Pratyay had fun getting out his less frequently used 100mm macro lens to get a closer look at these little beauties. Some of these are native to our area, and some are not, but even the non-native ones are often loved by the butterflies and other pollinators. Spring often brings some old and worn butterflies. Over their course of lifespan, butterfly wings go through much wear and tear, and sometimes it involves accidents and close escapes too! The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail flying over our honeysuckle definitely showed a good amount of wear.

I called this image “Obscure but present”. Thyme-leaved Sandwort.

A similar sentiment here with this little flowers of a speedwell.

Cutleaf Geranium.

Wood Sorrel

Backlit seedpods of peppergrass.

A Tiger Swallowtail with worn out wings.

An American Lady, also with some wear and tear on the wings.

Sreemala loves capturing the little winged critters in flight, which is not easy. It often comes down to a lot of patience, skill and some amount of luck! Capturing two Orange Sulphur butterflies against a dark background was definitely a highlight for her. We played with different crops and compositions in the post. Let us know how you like them!

Two Orange Sulphurs chasing around.

A different composition with the same butterflies.

The showing up of the butterflies in spring and early summer is always a joy to look forward to for more in the season. The Checkered Whites were abundant this year with pairs often chasing around. We were lucky to get some nice in flight shot of these elegant guys. The other checkered one, the Checkered Skipper also paid a visit.

A pair of Checkered Whites, male and female, chasing around.

Another Checkered White in flight.

Checkered Skipper.

End of April is the time for Birdlam, our local birding competition! It’s always a lot of fun to take part in it. See our Birdlam 2024 blog to read more about our birding adventures. Here’s a sneak peak at one of the better looking birds we saw on that day… the ever colorful male Painted Bunting!

Male Painted Bunting.

This year, we were thrilled to observe numerous nesting great crested flycatchers in our backyard. Their early morning calls were a delightful treat, and in the evenings, we watched them feast on the bugs that emerged. These dedicated parents were actively hunting to meet the dietary needs of their hatchlings.

Great-crested Flycatcher calling.

Yeah, they are “fly catchers”. Here’s one caught mid-snack.

On the flip side, the squirrels have declared war on our planters, relentlessly pillaging seeds and leaving us with more cleanup duties than usual. It would be nice if the Mississippi Kites nesting in our neighborhood helped us reduce the squirrel population, but they are mostly happy with smaller meals such as cicadas.

Mississippi Kite taking off.

This summer also marked a significant milestone for our family as our little Sreeja turned one, ushering us into a year of parenthood. Only time will reveal how successful we’ve been on this journey. We also celebrated Sreeja’s 11th month birthday with a trip to the lake, capturing a bunch of photos with her cooperation. She also spent her first birthday in one of the cottages at Lake Carl Blackwell, making it a memorable occasion for all of us.

Father-daughter conversation at the lake.

The Scissors in action!

Any spring visit to the Lake Carl Blackwell is incomplete without some scissortail photos! We did keep an eye on their favorite trees while taking our stroll. The flycatchers did not disappoint. We mostly got some relatively easier against-the-sky flight shots, but it’s hard to be unsatisfied about that when the subject is our beautiful state bird! In flight, these birds often resemble the letter X, and we found it interesting that the branches where one individual bird was sitting also looked like X. We thought it would be cool to get a photo when the bird takes off, and thankfully Sreemala was able to get such a shot. We call it “X marks the spot”.

X marks the spot!

X marks the spot version 2 with our backyard Carolina Wren.

The second “X marks the spot example” from our own backyard is not as dramatic, but we thought the curious wren at the crossroads framed by all the leaves made for a nice composition.

Sunset silhouettes…

The outing at the lake ended with yet another beautiful orange sunset. We had to adjust our taste of color when we came across “America’s brightest orange” at OSU, but it turns out that color preference is also to some extent an acquired taste. These days, Pratyay looks forward to the orange and black combination of the sunset silhouettes at the lake, and he was able to get a couple of images that he liked. The last image with four scissortails near the same tree was indeed quite lucky. But we can assure you that you will also find niceties like this when you are out in the nature if you pay attention to your surroundings.

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers - four of them! They were busy finding dinner.

Until next time… Meanwhile, I hope my friends from the Northern hemisphere will enjoy the rest of the summer while taking appropriate protection from the heat!