Look Out Below!!!

I don't know whether he was trying to get a tan on his rump or getting ready to fire one off at me...

We have a family of Baltimore Orioles living in our back yard, and another within a few houses. We've seen them at our feeders on a regular basis. We started with one and now have two feeders, not including the three hummingbird feeders that they raid daily. They LOVE grape jelly! And by the way, so does the family of Gray Catbirds that nest in our garden!

Lately we have been seeing the adults feeding the little ones, but I haven't been able to catch one with my camera until today. Which brings me to my latest little tale of woe. Have you ever been sh*t on by a bird? If you are a good birder you have been...at least once. I am proud to say I've taken one for the team on a number of occasions. The latest today...in the face. Not a happy boy about that. Nope. The neighbors heard me call out to the Oriole:

"Why, hello Mr. Oriole! How are you on this fine summers eve?"

I hope you don't believe that last line. I didn't say that. Still not too happy. Lucky he's still alive.

Here's the young'un on the wires in our front yard.

Here's an example of what a Baltimore Oriole will do if you are trying to photograph a youngster.
Imagine the branch is your face.

Here's Mr. Piggy helping himself to the hummingbird feeder.
And all this time we thought we must have a WHOLE FLOCK of hummers emptying the feeders!

This is an example of their nest shot at Magee Marsh.
I still haven't found the one in our yard. I know which tree, it's in there somewhere!

This is Mark Shieldcastle donating skin and blood so I can get a shot of an Oriole from behind.
What a nice guy!

This is a sample of the work done by a Yellow Warbler.
He sat above me laughing...I could hear him singing "Feet, feet, smell my feet!"
Little turd, I'll get him next year!