Mister Oriole Goes A-Courtin...

Here's the garden, just after 8 a.m. Everything's looking a lush and perhaps a little overgrown after all the rain. I am about due for mowing out there, but I'm also trying to wrangle the leftover grapevines and tear out an old fence under the apple tree so I can do a little raking first.
I would, however, like to mow before the milkweeds (recently sprouted) have gotten tall enuf to be threatened by the mower blades, and that will have to be soon, with more rain in the weekend forecast.
As you may note, the still green (but slowly fading) Christmas tree has been moved back to the garden's furthest border, as I work on replacing the fence in that area. And no, it wasn't a rooted tree...just your average cut magical Christmas tree that's decided to remain green for an astonishly long time.


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Anyway, I had a full day ahead of me, but figured I could take an hour for some raking, grapevine pruning/removing and such. So I brought my second cup of coffee out there and began to work. Right away, I could hear my friend the Oriole, but the song sounded a little different today. There he was, sitting in the pines just off the garden, singing the sweetest little song.

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The best part was, when he had finished, someone else was answering with a slightly varied version of his song. Before long, I spotted her flitting through the branches of an overgrown cherry (I think) tree at the far end of the garden: the long-sought, female oriole!!!
They sang to each other for a while, each moving through the trees, getting closer to one another...and then off they darted through the treetops, as I turned back to my work.


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A little while later I'd done my bit of time for this morning and was sitting down to enjoy the view (and the still lukewarm coffee)for a minute or two before heading in to shower...and suddenly they were flying over the garden together, wing-to-wing...the two of them came together and did this aeriel spiral...which would've been quite impressive...if they hadn't then promptly crashed into some tall grass closer to the meadow. It was oddly like college.
"Hey, get a nest!" I called, grinning as I gathered my tools and headed back to the house.


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Rock Harbor, Orleans, MA. Around 10:20 a.m.