Birds
All You Can Eat Bluebird Buffet
A mother’s work is never done. This female bluebird laid the eggs, sat on them until they hatched, spent all day, every day foraging for food for a brood of six. A week ago, they were big enough to leave the nest. Still, this dedicated mama gathers as much food as she can carry to her young waiting safely in a nearby tree.
We offer the bluebirds meal worm in this ceramic dish. It’s our small way of helping a working mother.
About a week ago, I posted a photo of the baby bluebirds before they left the nest. You can them here: Overflow Seating
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Singing for Supper
These young tree swallows are hungry and waiting for mom to serve up lunch. They are only about a week old, but growing fast. There are six in this nest box; one of several around our property.
Normally, when you open the nest box to look in our their progress, these young birds are very calm and sleep-like. I trick them to stretch and open their mouths my faking them out with a little whistle. When the mom returns with food, her motherly chirp will perk them up and they open up for the meal she’s brought. So, all it takes it is a little chirp of a whistle and they all bob up, mouths open, waiting. Don’t worry, they don’t stay hungry and wanting for long. Within in moments after close up the house, the parents are flying back in and out with food for them.
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Overflow Seating
Every spring we look forward to the return of bluebirds and tree swallows. We have next boxes around the edges of our yard to encourage homesteading. It’s always a treat to see them building their nests and then watch as the eggs hatch and the babies develop.
This is a view inside a nest box claimed by Eastern Bluebirds. These baby bluebirds are becoming quite cramped in the small confines of the nest box. Though you can’t see all of them, there are five youngsters piled on top of each other. In a short time (I’m guessing a week or less), they will leave the nest.
When looking in on this crowd, we had to be sure none of them spilled out…which they almost did.
To get a better, larger view of these babes, click on the photo.
Siblings
On my way to an appointment, I happened to pass by a small pond in the city. I was running a little early so I stopped for a moment to snap a few frames of the new arrivals.
It’s hard to find anything cuter than newly hatched ducklings. These are your basic, wild, mallard variety babies. They just stepped out of the water so they’re still a bit damp.
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Splishin’ & Splashin’
This little duck was having a grand ole time, splashing up a storm, celebrating a sunny, early spring day after a long, hard winter.
I happened to catch this character and its joyful display at the N.E.W. Zoo – about 10 minutes from Green Bay, WI.
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Warbler with a Yellow Rump
A yellow rumped warbler in its natural setting. In this case, the natural setting was a wooded area along the shores of Table Rock Lake at Branson, Missouri.
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Stately Stance
This house finch takes a stately stance on a favorite perch.
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Urban Guardian
On a walk through an urban area, we noticed this hawk perched on the utility pole. As we got close it would fly and stop at the next pole along our route…a few times. I kept hoping it would swoop down and snatch some prey while I had my camera ready. Of course, it didn’t or you’d be viewing a different picture here. He/she just seemed to be surveying the surrounding urban landscape.
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Dawn’s Early Flight
On the morning I took this photo, it was a calm and slowly brightening scene. I was focused on capturing the color in the clouds behind the lighthouse.
A large number of seagulls were resting on the pier running perpendicular to the lighthouse, apparently having spent the night there.
For no particular reason, they began to take off and I simply clicked the shutter several times as they inserted themselves into the scene.
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Four and Twenty
Those who follow my work know, I photograph a wide range of subjects. I capture, photographically, the things that capture me. This is one of those images. I was just working in the yard and noticed the way the birds on the power line were sitting, almost perfectly spaced, even on the line the angling down to the insulator.
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