January 26, 2022. Playa Royale, Nuevo Vallarta. Balcony Birds.

Every morning we five eat breakfast on the balcony. Bit by bit, people drift away. Ken B. is the first to head away to their palapa. Next Kenny and Anne go to their boat, which leaves Wendy sitting with me while I finish my coffee. We watch the ocean and we talk quietly. And sometimes a bird will come to visit. The Great Kiskadee was the first to visit. He landed on the post in the corner, then hopped along the railing until he was right in front of us. We stayed very still. Finally he let out his high pitched song which made us jump. For such a beautiful bird his sound is ridiculous. Three times since I arrived he has come to visit which pleases us. He is a beautiful yellow breasted bird. This week, a mourning dove came to the corner post and stayed a long time, cooing the whole time. We eat on the balcony which means we drop crumbs so the birds are looking for breakfast. The dove never did jump down to the floor, perhaps Wendy and I were there. Grackles come frequently, trying to find our crumbs. Sometimes we will have several at the same time. We see a sparrow come regularly too. We think it is a lark sparrow. He always flies directly to the floor of the balcony all around the table, then flys off. Last week, an oriole landed on the railing. And he came along the rail until he was directly in front of me. He was bright orange but not much black so I knew what the bird was not, but we did not know his name. The bird jumped down to the floor. I quickly pushed a small piece of my toast with banana across the table. Much to my surprise, the bird jumped right on the table and proceeded to eat my breakfast. First he ate all the banana, then pecked away at the toast. After a few minutes, his mate joined him but would only stay on the railing. Soon their baby appeared on the lower rung of the railing. They put on a show for us. Wendy looked through the bird books and decided that our bird was a streak back oriole. Wendy had taken a picture so both Alice Anne and Jim confirmed the identification. Wendy and I have enjoyed our morning visits with the birds on the balcony which we think is unusual. We like their visits.