Sunday, June 17, 2012

Meet Palmer

Two years ago, he and his wife started a family in our palm tree.
Until then, we hadn't noticed wild birds this pretty in our neighborhood.
I did some research and learned he is a Hooded Oriole. And if you know baseball, you'd understand why husby named him Palmer
(and it's not because the preferred tree for nesting is a palm).
In any case, Palmer and Mrs. Palmer would keep us entertained
with many trips flying back and forth to feed their little ones.
When the babies got older, the chirping as they vied to be fed would
wake us. Or be loud enough to disrupt our weekend coffee on the patio.
This was not pleasing to husby.
But when I explained the young birds were merely in their
noisy "teenager" phase and would soon be leaving home,
he seemed quite willing to put up with the racket.
Thank goodness I guessed correctly. The fledglings left after a week of especially boisterous teenage angst.
Before that, if he wasn't feeding his brood or helping to clean,
Palmer would be on guard.
It might be lonely.
Or cold.
But no matter. You can count on Palmer always at the ready.
To take off like a supersonic fighter jet with afterburners on,
should a blackbird or mockingbird stray near his family.
I have no pictures of that because he's much too fast.
It's a sight to see: a small yellow bird going after birds two or
three times its size with such determination.

So on this father's day, I want to wish a good one
to all the Palmers out there.

And a very special salute to you, dad!

15 comments:

  1. He is so beautiful, I have never seen anything like him, our birds are are all dull like our clothes.

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    1. Isn't he glorious? I hope he keeps coming back every spring.

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  2. What a lovely story for a lovely bird! Thanks for sharing this! Happy fathers day to all the dads! :)

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    1. Oh I'm so happy you enjoyed this! Thanks for coming by. :)

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  3. What a beautiful bird, thank you for sharing the photos. I love bird watching, it's a real treat to see them raise their young. I've designed our country yard to be extra bird-friendly with various trees and plants for specific birds and each spring I plant a few sunflowers outside of the kitchen window. They are the tall variety so we can see them through the window when cooking or sitting at the island. It's a natural bird feeder that is active all winter long. There are Orioles around here but they are rare and I've never seen one here myself. So pretty!

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    1. You're so welcome and I think I may become a bird watcher too. I recall once a pair of red shouldered hawks built a nest in a tree on the grounds of my office building and from our third floor bank of windows, it was a perfect view to watch the baby hawks grow from fuzzy cotton balls to young hawks that eventually had to learn how to hunt. LOVE the idea of natural bird feeders, I worry the sugar water for bird feeders is really junk food for them. Your country yard sounds lovely!

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  4. Aww, cute post! We have plain old Orioles around here so I get why your hubs named him Palmer (Jim), one of my favorite O's!

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    1. Thanks! That is exactly why, Jim is one of our favorites. And husby wants it known he knows Palmer is not the right colors but he is an oriole, thus .... ;)

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  5. Awwww... this is so sweet! I used to have an oriole family living in a tree in front of my former house. I know exactly what you mean about the noise. Then I moved and for two and a half years I couldn't hear a single bird in the area. Now I moved again and right in front of my window there is a little forest. It's a pleasure to wake up to chirping sounds again.

    Thanks so much for sharing this!

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    1. They are so much fun to watch but the baby birds can be clamorous. This year, Mrs. Palmer built the nest higher on the tree so they didn't disturb us. Now that they've moved away for the season, I miss their calls. :(

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    2. And I'm so glad you enjoyed this post. Thanks for coming by!

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  6. What a great Dad, and a very glam and handsome one too! Love that he lives in your palm tree, those are my faves, would love to plant some in our yard.

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    1. He is a good looking guy alright! And we're lucky he likes our palm for his spring residence.

      Around here, this type of palm is considered a weed, they grow wild. But we are not so highbrowed to get it replaced with an ornamental palm.

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  7. What a cute birdie, my kids would have loved to observe one;s life. We have few squirrels and they ruin everything at sight.

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    1. Your little ones would have loved to watch Palmer and his little ones! I know what you mean about little creatures that ruin things. We have rabbits that eat up our lawns.

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