We made it through winter! You might live in a warm weather climate, but here in northwest Ohio, winter can linger for far too long. In April, it snowed. It rained. One day it was in the eighties. We had severe storms. And we had sunshine. Go figure. Thankfully, it’s time for spring birds and flowers.
My husband and I spent a weekend working in the yard. He thatched the lawn, and our son and I raked the grass. I learned I had muscles I wasn’t aware of. I was pretty sore for a few days! But we also bought flowers to plant in pots on our deck and porch.
I love flowers.
I took this picture right after planting them. By the end of the month, the planter will be full of pretty petunias. 🙂
Another thing I love about spring? All the birds and bunnies and squirrels scurry around our feeders and birdbath. I watch them every morning while I sip coffee. It’s a blessing. The squirrels are silly. We have two regulars. One of them gnawed through the side hole of a birdhouse-turned-feeder, and he squeezed his way inside. His fluffy tail was sticking out of the feed tray. I laughed! I tried to take a picture of it. You can see his tail sticking out in the picture below.
We have beautiful parks in our area, so I stopped at one along the Maumee River. I saw this chubby guy at their feeders. I don’t usually see raccoons out during the day! I figured it might be a pregnant raccoon, filling up before she has her babies. Who knows? She was cute, though.
The only birds I don’t like to see in my backyard are the predators–hawks, especially. They eat the sparrows and mourning doves. I don’t like it. I’m feeding the birds so they can live, not so they can be snacks! I know the hawks have to eat, too, but do they have to pick off the sweet little birds and bunnies in my yard? Ugh.
The hawk below is on the smaller side, and I saw him at the same park as the raccoon.
Oh well. Such is life.
We have two robin nests in our yard–one in the front and one in the back–but I don’t believe we have a cardinal nest this year. There must be one nearby, though, because we have a mama and daddy cardinal flying around, stopping at the feeders, every day. I love them. They’re such bright birds. Oh, and we have goldfinches. If you’d like to try to identify birds, check out AllAboutBirds.org.
What kind spring birds and flowers do you have? Do you have favorites?
Enjoy your day!
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Jill Kemerer is a Publishers Weekly bestselling author of heartwarming, emotional, small-town romance novels often featuring cowboys. Her essentials include coffee, caramels, a stack of books and long walks outdoors in Ohio where she resides with her husband.
We have robins in abundance and cardinals. I’m still waiting for the hummingbirds to visit me. My feeders have been out for two months. My azalea bushes and camellia bushes have already bloomed. The gardenia bushes will be blooming soon.
The hummingbirds haven’t arrived here yet, either. It’s too cold for them. I think they’ll arrive in June. We’ll see! I love azaleas–I’m sure they were gorgeous!
I currently live in Florida and love seeing the Cranes.
I love the cranes, too! We have a lot of egrets and Great Blue herons in our area!
we have lots of birds and the hummers and grosbeaks just showed up, cardinals, titmouse, gold finches, purple finches, house finches, chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals all at the feeder and the many squirrels too!
I would LOVE your feeder! It brings all the birds! So fun!
Good morning Jill! Working in my yard is so rewarding. Living in Florida, we don’t have much of a winter. So we start the end of February! LOL But, I don’t purchase extra flowers until end of March or April. I did put out my zinnia seeds two weeks ago. They are just coming up. My mums are slow to bloom. But, I see the buds on them.
I’m like you, I love my birds and my flowers! I saw cardinals, finches and a few others. We do have hawks now and again. But we have an abundance of crows and squirrels!
Florida has the best weather! And zinnias are happy flowers. We planted some out back last year and enjoyed the colorful blooms. Your birds sound like ours!
Robins, doves, Canada geese, Hawks, occasional eagle, cardinals, etc… daffodils, tulips, and I still need to fill the planters.
Ooh, we see bald eagles often in our area! We live about a mile from a river, and they have nests nearby. They’re so majestic.
It has finally warmed up enough here in western Colorado to put some flowers out. I was given some hyacinths for Easter from my secret prayer partner at church and I managed to rescue one bulb from my pup, so I’m anxious to get it in the ground. The birds are so nice to hear, too!
Hyacinths smell amazing! I love that it was a gift from your secret prayer partner. How sweet is that??
I have a few miniature rose bushes that I enjoy their blooms. It has taken me years to be able to grow flowers outside. So I am especially happy to have these roses. We have deer and an occasional fox. I so enjoy watching the babies. We have a good many cardinals and several blue jays as well as a few I don’t know. We have a handsome woodpecker that I enjoy watching- he likes to pick through the seeds for the sunflower seeds. Nature is a beautiful reminder of God’s goodness and creative design.
We have those bushes, too, and they are really pretty! I can’t believe you have foxes–they’re beautiful. I like woodpeckers–they’re fun!
I see a lot of robins where we live. I love the lilacs, daffodils and tulips that are blooming a lot right now.
Lilacs have the best smell. I can’t get enough of them!
I have tulips and lilacs at this time. We also feed birds, so far this year I haven’t seen any cardinals.
Maybe the cardinals will come around in the next month!
My desert roses are blooming, and my plumerias are finally putting out leaves!! They no longer look like sticks.
The Western Meadow Larks sing in our wind break. The King Birds are back this week. There have been warblers in the fruit trees passing through. The Western Tanager and Northern Orioles haven’t shown up yet so Sparrows have been using their nests left from last year. The ravens, magpies, collared doves are here all year long with some of the sparrows and hawks. We have a home orchard and windbreaks giving us habitat for lots of bird species.
The lilacs have been perfuming our yard and providing lots of blooms as the tulips and daffodils fade.
I always have Anna’s hummingbirds in my yard because they don’t migrate out of Southern California and they’re the cutest. At this time of year I enjoy seeing wild poppies but one time I thought I saw a lot and I was thinking ‘Oh! Beautiful and vibrant!’ but it turned out to be orange netting from the department of transportation hahaha…
NE TN here. Our weather has been similarly crazy. We broke the record high temperature, high 80’s, several times in April. Then it dropped into the 40’s and 50’s for highs. It was in the 30’s two nights ago.
The birds are back. The hawks and cardinals are here year round. Wrens, robins, blue birds, redwing black birds, and humming birds are back. We have a huge flock of starlings that roost in the bamboo grove near us. The flock will swoop around in a large formation for 15 minutes or so before it settles into the bamboo. Unfortunately, some have found out how to get into our attic where they are nesting.
Right now, The irises, peonies, clematis, and roses are in full bloom. They are my favorite and wish the irises and peonies would bloom all summer. I am way behind in weeding my flower beds and have a healthy crop of weeds. When I have time, the weather isn’t cooperating. When it is nice I am busy and can’t get out to work. I may never get my summer flowers in.
No squirrels at our house. We do have two raccoons and a large possum that visit at night. We have a resident groundhog that spends time under our deck, which is just above ground level. It is driving our dog nuts. We have had moles before, but the didn’t cause problems. This year, when I weeded the flower bed under the trees, my Hosta on one side were smaller and rather sparse. When weeding, the Hosta plant lifted right out of the ground. The mole tunneled under the Hosta and ate the roots on many of them. The plants were so big and lush last year. Now I need to work hard to bring them back and figure out how to get rid of the mole.
Spring Birds I have Cardinals, Blue Jays, Thrush. Turkey , doves and Spring flowers Daisies, Butterfly Bush, Orange Blossom Bush, Lilacs
We have robins (building a nest in our porch roof}, blue jays, cardinals and other birds. I have an azalea bush, peonies,and lilacs, which are my favorite in spring.
spring flowers: pansies (I love their ‘faces’), lilacs ( the beautiful smell! ), daffodils (after a long hard winter it’s a sign that spring is coming , even when it seems like it’s slow)
Cardinals are my favorite bird, but I also really love bluebirds. My favorite flowers are lilacs. My grandma had a huge clump of them when I was a kid, and my mom has a bush that came from a cutting of hers. I also love daffodils, irises, and hyacinths. My grandma also had a beautiful tiger lily, and I really miss seeing it bloom.