I’m deep in the two final exhausting weeks of planning for our annual Blue Week Native Plant Sale, but I took today off to go birding. It’s so frustrating to have to work on a major project every May, just when everything is happening in the natural world and I want to be outside chasing birds and dragonflies! To celebrate the fact that I got outside for a while, I wanted to take just a couple minutes to show you a few of the birds I saw today.

Spring migration is in full swing now, and I live in a major migratory stopover location that birders flock to from all over the world (Toledo, Ohio). Tiny songbirds fly northward at night, stopping in the morning to feed and gather energy for continuing their journeys. When they arrive on the shore of this enormous lake, they wisely come down to rest before daring the dangerous flight over the vast expanse of water. And this is why we have the privilege to spend time among them each May.

As I birded with friends at the famed Magee Marsh today, I took a moment to acknowledge the beautiful songs that filled the air around us. Sometimes we’re so intent on finding and photographing the birds that we don’t stop to just listen and smile. It feels so good to do that for a few moments, to simply be grateful that we get to enjoy these amazing little creatures.

Okay, I have to stop thinking about this or I’ll play hooky from my plant sale meeting tomorrow! As I sit here in my sunroom writing this, I’m being serenaded by a Baltimore oriole’s flutelike voice and it makes me want to run outside to absorb this fleeting joy deep into my heart. I hope these photos brighten your Migration Monday.