Young chick testing out the wings

Every year this White-Eyed Vireo builds a nest in an orange tree at the Merritt Island National Wildlife refuge visitor center. The first time I was able to come across the nest was on my birthday. Finding it was more impressive since the nest was very small and the bird chose the very tip of the branch to build on. I was so excited to experience seeing the Vireo on the nest and even got to see the eggs hatch, along with both parents coming back and forth to feed the young ones. This is one of my favorite photos taken of the Vireo in the nest 🙂

Just fledged robin.

Waiting for dinner to be delivered the day before fledging.

While checking nest boxes, I flushed a chuck-will’s-widow off these two eggs. The bird flew off doing the broken-wing display.

After building a nest in my garden and not having her eggs hatch the mother built a second nest in my grape vines. I didn’t find it until she’d laid three eggs, which all hatched in the last two days. I’ve been growing the grape vines for 4 years and this year was going to be my “crop” year, however with the nest I can’t really get close and I certainly couldn’t spray the vines insects, etc. The crop is pretty well half destroyed by bugs / black rot, but the bird family is doing just fine.

There was a mixed Barn Swallow and Cliff Swallow colony in a picnic shelter. These guys grew up between 2 Cliff Swallow nests.

3 American Oyster Catcher Eggs

This mother began building her nest in January 2014 on a bamboo branch outside my bedroom window. I watched her raise her first clutch of two followed immediately by a second clutch of one. LA hummingbirds are very fond of the vibrant purple trumpet-shaped flowers on the vines covering the metal fence perimeter, which made it at attractive, yet protected, location for a nest.

Robin’s eggs laid in a bush near my front porch.

Completed Baltimore Oriole nest in the trees around the lighthouse in Presqu’ile Provincial Park.

The parents came to feed the two youngsters about once every hour. The young fledged about ten days after this photo was taken.

Once chicks hatch, the nest is wherever mom is! The chicks nestle under her for warmth, the off again to explore and find bugs to eat

This spring I was fortunate enough to watch a Brown Thrasher family in a local Master Gardener public garden. I first notice two fledglings in the undergrowth and one of them seem to be very interest in me. A few minutes later, the fledgling flew up to a branch in a small ornamental tree and one of the parents joined it. The dappled light through the young leaves gave me enough light to get this photo. If you look closely, you will see some type of insect in the parent’s mouth. The parent flew off and the fledgling hopped around the tree limbs and would check me out every time he moved. I was sitting on a bench about twelve feet away. I think we both enjoyed the moment.

Taken at a Skimmer’s colony on the beach.

Came home to find on our pond that a mother Hooded merganser duck was raising this mixed family. 7 ducklings are wood ducklings and 4 are Hooded merganser ducklings. They are so cute.

This little baby was in a nest in a wine barrel at a local elementary school right near the classrooms. I went by to check if the babies had fledged for three days, and on the third day, this little one and four others were flying and hopping all over. I used my 300 mm. zoom lens and took this photo while he rested on a rock. I think the few down feathers still on his head make him look especially cute.