Here east of Blackfoot with a wooded/bush lined irrigation canal in my yard, I’ve had a mixed group of orioles, black-headed grosbeaks and Lazuli Buntings mobbing my feeders.  I’ve had at least 8 male Lazulis at once using my window feeders. I can lay quietly on my couch and observe every detail.  It’s fabulous!   They will not share a feeder so the extras wait their turns in the adjacent branches of the nearby yew trees. The instant one Lazuli leaves a feeder a replacement moves in.  It’s like planes at an airport waiting in a landing pattern.  I’m waiting to see if the Lazulis move through or if they nest here.  Also have barn swallows nesting once again in the same nest they attached to the cobble stone facing on my front porch.  Unfortunately they prefer the nest directly above my front door.  I keep wondering if it’s the same adults that returned or if they are 1 or 2 year-olds that fledged from that nest.  Had a great horned owl and a Swainsons emerge from nests in our grove of spruce trees when I accidently surprised them yesterday.  Never a dull moment around here.

Ruth Shea
3872 Cromwell Lane
Blackfoot, ID