We headed out again to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens to see what has changed since last weekend and hoping to see some Baltimore Orioles again. We did see some changes with the flowers and found plenty of birds but failed to find any orioles at all.
The first birds we noticed were before we even entered the garden. These two Eastern Bluebirds were perched at the top of a small tree in the parking lot!
After entering, we saw an American Robin near the entrance.
We passed by a variety of flowers, some familiar, some new.
These were particularly interesting in appearance. There were just a few of them that had started to bloom.
We noticed an Eastern Bluebird with a bug in its mouth. We didn’t see any babies nearby unfortunately.
There were a ton of swallows flying around as usual. They’re always tough to photograph while they’re flying around. We managed to get a decent one of this Barn Swallow.
This was at the top of a very tall stalk, about 5 feet tall!
We’ve probably photographed this before.
Upon reaching the pond, we saw a turtle swimming slowly.
Last week, we saw Tree Swallows at this nest box. The female was gathering nesting materials from a patch of ground that had some dry grass. Maybe this is the same male we saw last week as well?
This tree seems to be a very popular perching spot for swallows. Today, we saw Barn Swallows on it. In the past, we’ve seen Tree Swallows as well.
Colorful little flowers! It was in the shade so the colors are a tad dull.
As we approached this nest box, we saw a little head poking out of the entrance. A baby Tree Swallow!
Soon, we saw an adult land by the entrance!
The adult quickly fed the baby Tree Swallow!
The adult left and came back less than a minute later with some more food!
And again!
We got a good look at the baby Tree Swallow as we walked past.
Meow! A Gray Catbird.
We didn’t see any Canada Geese until we got to the east pond. It was filled with them!
We walked by this nest box that was home to Eastern Bluebirds.
We got a very nice photo of the male after he flew up to the top!
These nests are used by Purple Martins. We didn’t see them last week but did two weeks ago. This one is about to enter one of the nests. We only saw them darting in and out. None seemed to want to perch on the top of the nesting structure like they sometimes do.
Just a flower that looked photo worthy!
This little turtle was enjoying the sun while on a lotus leaf.
We found the Baltimore Orioles nests that we saw last week. Unfortunately, no sight of them today. Were we just unlucky? Or have the chicks left the nest?
We sometimes see Barn Swallows land on the paved paths here in the garden. We’ve never been sure what they are doing on the ground. This one seems to have collected a tiny piece of dry grass? We’ve never noticed them flying off with anything before.
We found the House Wrens again at the same place where we saw them last week.
We saw two adults, each with a little food item in their mouth. They seemed to be looking for their young to feed.
Up above, what seems like a dark morph Red-Tailed Hawk. I don’t think we’ve seen one of the dark ones before. Unfortunately it was flying very high up so there isn’t too much detail visible.
We walked by another Eastern Bluebird nest box!
We happened to notice this Green Heron flying above us. It seemed to circle a few times.
It isn’t uncommon to see various larger birds here in Northern Virginia!
This Tree Swallow was preening its feathers! While the tiniest birds seem quite different than the big huge ones, they all share some common behaviors!
As we made our way out of the garden, this Eastern Bluebird was nice enough to pose for us!
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