Wild Things

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

The Orioles Arrive 30 x 40” Oil © Ann Trusty

We are happy to see that the Baltimore Orioles have arrived this week to our yard in Kansas on their epic flights from Central America. We are lucky to live under a great migratory flyway used by hundreds of millions of birds on their way north to their ancestral breeding grounds each spring. Last night, according to BirdCast data, 2,952,400 birds crossed overhead! It is an ancient and mysterious miracle of Nature of which many people are largely unaware. (We try to help by turning off unnecessary lights).

We think that the Orioles who stay and do not move on further north may be returning to their breeding and/or birth places here in this forest we have the privilege of caring for. We don’t know by what magic they arrive at our little feeders, but are grateful for their beautiful, cheery, life-affirming presences. In plentiful years, we have had up a dozen birds on the feeders in the yard or eating oranges on our…