I did not go to work today. I painted all day. I heard the melodic songs of two male orioles battling to claim ownership of my yard, with the occasional scolding buzz they make. I heard the house wren flying around to check out every nest box in anticipation of the return of his much quieter mate. The blue jay family is back, a pair with last year's offspring. The youngster will help his parents with this year's little ones. The male was tenderly feeding his female. The male grosbeak was, as usual, making a pig of himself on the sunflower seeds. Yesterday the catbird returned and is doing some rather poor bird impressions in the bushes. The chipping sparrows are feeding and fighting, there seems to be many of them this year. The tree swallows returned this morning to scope out the nest boxes, along with a blue bird. The swallows are excellent bug control. The wood thrush sang in the morning, along with a blue-winged warbler. The two crows are busy feeding young and stealing the suets from the cages. The young must have already hatched, because for a while the male was coming on his own. There are so many more, mourning doves, goldfinches, song sparrows, grackles, e. starlings, brown creepers, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied wdpckers, all visiting and grabbing a snack.