"I was here first!" The female orchard oriole on the left had been sipping from the spring when a second showed up.
"I'm thirsty too. You can't hog the spring all afternoon."           "Oh, yeah?"
"Is it a party?" A third oriole couldn't wait to join in, but the squabblers were not in the mood.
The male orchard oriole is not only outnumbered by the many females/immatures, but much, much warier. He comes to water rarely, and stays only a short time. This is the best picture I've gotten of him...he won't perch on the nice pale rock where he'd show up better.	You don't normally think of orioles as wading birds, but this one liked to sit on the overflow of the upper basin. It's one way to keep your feet cool on a hot afternoon.
This young male cardinal looks like he's made up for a masked ball in some kind of clown costume. Even his bill is parti-colored. He may be a handsome bird someday, but right now, Patches is more than a little ridiculous.	The beak indicates a house finch but the crisp, narrow stripes suggest one of its cousins--a Cassin's or a purple finch. I don't know.
I haven't seen a chickadee for several months, though I've heard them--so I was glad to get this shot.

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