...do you even remember what that color looks like?
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| An Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) in a sea of summer lushness. |
Summer colors—jewel tones of emerald green and lapis lazuli are easily forgotten in the gray and white desert of winter. I'm not trying to hurry winter along. I love snow, and we've had a lot of it this winter, which has been exciting, but seeing the saturated greens of summer has me thinking of what's to come...
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| Indigo Buntings return to our area and start claiming territory in fields and woodland edges in April. Not too far off... |
Matty and I saw this Indigo Bunting on an early evening walk at
Shawnee State Park in southwestern Ohio last summer. It was warm and insects and birds were singing all around us. We had spent the day volunteering with Jenny Richards, the incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgable naturalist at the park. After dinner we walked down the long drive that leads from the main road up to the lodge. This Indigo Bunting was singing in the trees at the woodland edge just off the road. He was singing so sweetly we had to stay and watch and listen.
...for a preview of the sounds of spring and summer,
click here for a video by Lang Elliott (Music of Nature videos) of an Indigo Bunting singing! I've listened to it 4 times. It sounds so good...
Beautiful all in blue, love it Kelly.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shots, Kelly! I've seen the Lazuli Buntings here, but don't remember ever seeing an Indigo. They're a gorgeous color of blue.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blue!
And thanks for the sound track.
I have only seen one of those, the blue is so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAfter all the snow that came down once again last night, "Thank you" for that breath of Spring. Sure hope I get to see some of those "little blue beauties" once again this year.
ReplyDeleteI live in NY on Long Island's south shore. I have only seen one of these beauties once and it was a breathtaking sight for me. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and artwork. Fabulous!!
ReplyDeleteI live in NY on Long Island's south shore. I have only seen one of these beauties once and it was a breathtaking sight for me. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and artwork. Fabulous!!
ReplyDeleteStunning photographs! After that 8" of snow we received yesterday, I am delighted to see these blue beauties. They really are stunning birds ... their color, like no other. I am looking forward to spring when they return to our area. A most enjoyable post, Kelly!
ReplyDeletesuch a stunning blue!
ReplyDeletelove the "music of nature" ♥
just gorgeous! We see the occasional mountain bluebird in SW Idaho, but not that bright a blue!
ReplyDelete- The Equestrian Vagabond
Beautiful, nice brake for the white, hope we have flowers soon.
ReplyDeleteA big hug
...thanks, everyone! There is more white in our yard, but I still am liking it. It's definitely better than the color-drained gray that normally settles in all winter around here, but still.........indigos and emeralds win!
ReplyDeleteI love that first shot, Kelly!
ReplyDeleteThese birds are stunning. Sadly, my only experience with one was kinda sad. At Deer Creek State Park in Ohio, I saw the guy at dusk sitting on the porch that led into lodge. I took a couple of pictures, got maybe eight feet away, and he didn't move. I watched a while longer, my excitement turning to concern, when I noticed a white blotch on the stone behind his tail. He had . . . how shall I say? . . . soiled himself.
ReplyDeleteHypothesis: he'd flown into the lodge's large sliding glass door and knocked himself silly. Eventually I turned away for a minute, and when I turned back, he was gone. I tell myself it was a happy ending.