Beautiful birds and blooms of spring

The birds of North America are much to be enjoyed, especially, I think, in the spring. We are very much enjoying the blooms over the past weeks and now approaching summer, as the peonies and irises have that faded and dropped off need to be trimmed up to make our yards neat. Likewise, the azalea blooms have all turned brown, leaving only their foliage to enjoy for the summer months.

So now the various roses are alternately blooming and fading, blooming and fading, necessitating the plucking of the spent blooms and the rose hips to keep them neat and ready for the next crop of flowers to come on. Most of us now have the relatively newer knock-out roses in our yards and many commercial businesses have them for part of their landscaping beauty. But, we also have climbing roses and possibly the large and gorgeous tea roses. They require so very much care and attention that I just cannot justify buying any of them at this point -- maybe later in life. When the garden catalogs come to my home and they feature the many colors and patterns of tea roses, I am tempted, but have managed thus far to resist. I do love the striped ones, and I recall with fond memories the salmon-colored ones my mother grew and loved after her children had grown up, and of course the velvet dark red ones would be a favorite of many of us.

So now, according to my yard, the next things to anticipate are the day lilies. I have several, planted a number of years ago, which have buds swelling so they will soon be popping open. The disadvantage to day lilies is that they supposedly bloom only for a day, thus the name, but the accompanying advantage is that more will very soon follow, on the same plant. This year, as I have mentioned in a previous column, my friend Joyce has given us a large number of day lilies, so they've been alternately painstakingly and haphazardly placed around our front yard and then in our back yard and then circling the playhouse so that when they bloom, our yard(s) should absolutely rejoice in bloom! The colors and shades will be a surprise to us, but I expect the most popular yellow to be predominant; we'll see and I don't particularly care. I will love them all. They don't make good cut flowers for indoor bouquets so we will enjoy them in their places.

Well, I began by thinking to write about birds, but I went off on a "rabbit trail." Now, I will return to the birds. I should subscribe to the beautiful, slick magazine, "Bird and Blooms" which I often see in doctor's offices and appreciate their accessibility there.

During the spring, my favorite bird is the gentle robin, which I find in our yard, mostly walking and jumping around. They do fly, of course, but mostly they seem to like to walk, searching for worms and bugs in the lawn, especially following a shower. So we've seen plenty of them recently, with so many spring showers! They like the birdbaths, too, and are so pretty, splashing about. I wish I could attract a robin's nest each year and persuade them to hatch out a family, but don't always manage that.

One of my favorite memories of our Iowa home was the robin's nest in the redbud tree outside the north window, easy to see from the upstairs bedroom there. I managed to see Mother Robin coax her babies to hatch out, then receive the food that Father Robin brought them, and then Mother helped them learn to fly away. I watched that latter process with mixed feelings, like any mother does, to see her babies leave the nest. In this case, I knew they would not be returning for Sunday meals like, at least, our human offspring can do!

The bright red cardinal, as my readers know, is one of my all-time favorites, especially in winter months with snow on the ground and on the trees and bushes, because the red is so spectacular against the white, sparking snow. I always want to keep our bird feeders full to the brim so the cardinals don't move down the street and leave our back deck area.

Other birds are to be enjoyed, too, including the finches with their golden yellow coloring; the bluebird if they can be attracted to live close by; the Baltimore oriole with their striking orange and black coloring (I love the male because his orange is so much brighter than his female counterpart); the Carolina wren, an adorable small brown bird; the gray mourning dove with his cooing song often heard in the evening here; the purple martin who seemingly likes to live a distance away from people in a house on a high pole; the Bobwhite with his distinctive song and the field sparrow.

Last summer when grandson Andrew visited us for a week at age 7, one of our "projects," designed to keep him from getting homesick on his first trip away from his mom and dad, was the watching of birds on our lawn and deck and then sketching them and coloring our sketches. He loved it and took his little "journal" home with him, I hope to keep for many years to help him remember his good times in Arkansas. It helped him to recall the birds we saw and their colors and markings. I hope to continue the project in June of this year when he returns, although we might dispense with the drawings!

Now, on this pretty morning, I believe I'll find a seat in my yard and look over the blooms and whatever birds might come by, passing these morning minutes in May. Might you be able to do the same on some morning soon!

-- Jan Mullikin is a Siloam Springs resident and former employee of the Herald-Leader. She can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Community on 05/27/2015