Spring Has Arrived

.

Spring has arrived in our yards! There are signs of it everywhere.

Plants are sprouting and blossoming. Our azalea is attracting a constant stream of visitors: ladybugs, wasps, hornets and bees.

A pair of White-winged Doves has started building a nest in our mulberry.

The other day I noticed that our female Downy Woodpecker was acting much less standoffish than usual towards our male. As I watched, she seemed to be flirting with him.

And, this being spring, one thing naturally led to another.

On Tuesday we were sitting in our front yard when our first migrant Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the year turned up. I was too slow to get a photo but the next day I put up a hummingbird feeder. It took less than five minutes for it to attract its first visitor. It wasn't a hummer, though, but rather one of our male House Finches. Our finches really love those hummingbird feeders!

Unfortunately, yesterday we also had a less welcome visitor: our first mosquito of the year. I had thought it was too dry and too early for mosquitoes but I was obviously wrong. Oh, well, I guess we have to hunt out our cans of bug spray.
.