Tree Swallows

This Tree Swallow is my new favorite bird. On Wednesday, I went to the Morton Arboretum for a farewell visit with two dear friends (pictures to follow, I hope) and spent the loveliest three hours of the week with them. A sweet little bird like this one perched just long enough on a sign post for me to admire him, but not long enough to get a picture. I got very excited and hopeful that we could see him again, and we kept on walking and ended up next to a marshy area where there were at least a half dozen tree swallows swooping around. When they fly, they flash black and white and sometimes a splash of vibrant blue. It is breathtaking. There were also a few similar looking birds flying around too, but with tawny underbellies and darker upperparts. I haven't figured out what kind they were yet.

A crime

Do you remember these guys?


Do you think they were plucked because they didn't conform?

I wonder whose job it is to decapitate a tulip. I don't think you could pay me enough.