27 May 2019 For the Birds

Our birdboxes have been hosts to many, many nesting pairs.  They were also falling apart.  I planned to replace two and add a third.  My plans were altered with the discovery of an active nest in one of the boxes.  I was happy to wait while the box served one more nesting pair.

The bird box efforts were rewarded with a spotting of a blue-headed or solitary vireo.  It was a first for us.  We were walking our property to look for orchids when we made the lucky sighting.

We also spotted our first turkey of the spring on the property.  The northern edge sometimes has a nest, but there were no signs this year.  There was a much scurrying of sending young ones deeper in the woods with the sighting of us.

We were able to locate the round leaved orchids in their usual area of the woods,but like most years there would be no spikes.

Before heading back to Ohio we stopped at a favorite place to look for lady's slippers on bloom.  The natural area never fails to offer blooms each spring.