Here is a little trio of Titmice, a common bird native to eastern North America, actively exploring a Saucer Magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana) , an old-fashioned garden favorite introduced from China generations ago. In fact this particular one grew in my mother’s yard and it seemed to always have birds in it of one kind or another year round. This is a deciduous magnolia, quite different in habitat and size from the big evergreen magnolias of the South, and is sometimes subject to hard freezes when blooming, which turns the flowers brown. And, unlike the ornamental Callery pear, this imported magnolia doesn’t seem to be invasive.