I used to see these lovely birds around here. Sadly they haven't been spotted for years now. Your close-up is fantastic and shows the colours on the wing to perfection.
We have always considered them a sign of spring too....sadly we had to give up feeding the birds because we didn't want all of the ducks and geese walking in our yard, leaving a mess or have the eagles get the smaller birds. We don't see very many eagles but we do see the osprey and other large birds. I do feed the orioles and the hummingbirds. I am trying to plant things that the smaller birds like, seeds from the coneflowers, etc.
