Birds and blooms

It's been wet, wet, wet here in the DC area for a couple of weeks! That's made it tough on our flowers to stay in bloom lately. But we finally had a day of sun yesterday, and a couple of new plants decided to come out and shine.

First, our absurdly beautiful Yellow Irises, which I can never really figure out. They pop out of a two-dimensional base, and then form this complicated structure. They smell like soft lemons - love them!

And over closer to the patio we have a Lavender Rhododendron which is starting to burst forth with puffballs of flowers:


You may have noticed our bird feeders in other pictures. I'm going to try my best to take some bird photos, but without a telephoto lens it's a challenge, and I have to be REAL patient. That being said, I got a couple of decent shots yesterday. You'll have to click on the photos to enlarge and see the birds.

Here are some reddish-purple House Finches - we see a lot of these little guys:

And we also get several types of woodpeckers - this one is a Red-bellied Woodpecker, easy to spot with its brightly red cap:

From Parkway Manor, we hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day!

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