Birds and 'boo

I hung one of my bird feeders from a Blue Timber Bamboo (Bambusa chungii) cane and numerous birds have flocked there to feed.

Below are a few of the many species I've photographed against a beautiful bamboo backdrop.

One of my favorite birds - a chickadee - came for the sunflower seeds

Two cardinals - the red-feathered male in the forefront with the less showy female in the rear

Two goldfinches on the sides with a chipping sparrow in front

Two goldfinches alone.   They must have scared the chipping sparrow away

Springtime in the bamboo grove

It's spring and that means the running bamboos are shooting! New bamboo culms are emerging at an astonishing rate.

Below are three pictures of one particularly beautiful specimen - Phyllostachys vivax huangwenzhu, which we call Green-Gold Vivax Timber Bamboo.

A broad yellow vertical stripe appears on alternating culm section of Green-Gold Vivax Timber Bamboo 

This young shoot is reaching for the sky as it grows upward through a window of bamboo leaves

Looking down at a newly emerged shoot from above.  In just a few days, this relatively small shoot will tower over my head and I'll have to look up to take a picture