Last year, six Baltimore Orioles wintered in my yard, and I went through lots
of grape jelly! In October, one adult male appeared again, and the groups has
now grown to four. Three are adult males, and I'll bet they are the individuals
who were here last year in first-year plumage.
On another note unrelated to Virginia, I went to the Lower Rio Grande Valley
during their Birding Festival last week, and have posted some bird and
butterfly photos that I took there. If you're interested, please have a look;
they are at www.flickr.com/birdingva . Photos include most of the specialties:
Aplomado Falcon, Green Kingfisher, Clay-colored Thrush, bad photos of
White-collared Seedeater and Gray Hawk, and many, many more. If you're into
butterflies, there are a couple of rarities-- Isabella Heliconian and Blue-eyed
Sailor -- as well as the LRGV specialties.
By the way, I met Larry Meade down there (Hi, Larry!) and he has also posted
some photos from that trip. Let him know if you'd like his link!
Thanks for indulging me---
Karen Kearney
Chesapeake, VA
