Afternoon Birding Break

I did get a break from the office around mid-afternoon, and so was able to enjoy a nice tour around the daytime yard at home for a bit. Here's one of those newly-arrived yellow marigolds.

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Though you'll never be able to tell (I couldn't spot it, and I knew where to look), there was a redwing blackbird busying himself in the muddy grasses under this fallen tree on the far shore of the pond...all the while singing that tune that inspired Bernstein..."I feel pretty..."

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Also on the far shore in a tree branch was this male cardinal, singing an assortment of all equally-joyous and bright songs.

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This, I believe, is the mate to that cardinal. She was rustling about in the rhododendron outside the living room window when Badum (the cat) called my attention to her, as she flew to this more distant perch.
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I suspect it was this pair who tried to nest unsuccessfully in the andromeda bush outside our dining room window last summer. (That nest was certainly sturdy enough--though unfinished, it survived the winter and is still nestled in the andromeda branches.) The rhody offers a little more concealment, but is probably still not ideal for them, as far as security goes. Especially if The International Cat of Leisure can stare out the window at them.