Where the heck has Swissy been? He still around?!? If you are - Happy Birthday, brother - hope you're still smoking salmons for the great good!

I've hung my hummingbird feeders again this year. Have not seen any as of yet, but they did not arrive at my feeders last year until later in the season.

The Baltimore Orioles are back at the feeders for the third season!

I'd heard rumors that Buffalo Trace switched distributors because of distribution issues - and that there was a good chance we'd start to see the "rare" BT stuff on shelves. My son was in a Binny's near us and found Eagle Rare on the shelf, and a whole end cap of cases of Weller's SR. I also...

Male and female House Finch hanging out at the jelly feeder. Hoping to see the Baltimore Orioles soon!

A male American Goldfinch in our flowering crabapple tree. Striking colors on both!

A Rose-Breasted Grosbeak showed up at the feeder today - first time we'd ever seen one in person!

I have both LR and Topaz. I really like Topaz because it does a pretty decent job on noise, but many of my photos are pretty seriously underexposed and therefore pretty noisy. Topaz has it limits!!! But - you're spot on. I'm going to have to a bit of tweaking, but I should be able to...

I don't think I could duplicate this photo if I tried. Straight out of the camera with only minor adjustments, but to me it looks just like a painting!

My wife was loving them flying around her head when she would work in the area of the Butterfly Bush we have in the back yard. Like you - I would sit with my cigar, whiskey and my camera watching the "fun". The hummingbirds were not at all shy!

Momma and I went for a walk at a nearby forest preserve and ran across this Kildeer. He sure seemed to like to pose for pictures. Spent a good 15-20 minutes parading back and forth for me!

Very busy week around the hacienda with the bird migrations ongoing. Eastern Phoebe, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flickers and male and female red-bellied woodpeckers! All within walking distance of the house. Glad spring is here!

I seriously botched photos for my daughters wedding. Got a few nice shots, but I was completely out of my element. I'm not doing weddings anymore! Lighting is a major challenge!!!!

First Dragonfly of the season!

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker - found h8m on our afternoon walk!

During our walk earlier this week we came across this bird. I was confused so I took a few pictures because I had never seen one before. Turns out it’s an Eastern Phoebe flycatcher. Probably have seen it a million times before but just ignored it.

EDITED TO ADD: I shot this picture in a park across the street from the house and the park was loaded with flowers everywhere. The flowers in this picture (Siberian Squill) are sometimes considered to be an "invasive" species. Many are buying the bulbs and planting them all over but a word of...