I knew there was a hummingbird nest nearby, but a much as I searched, I couldn’t find it.., until Mama came home to roost. She settled down lightly on a small nest hidden in the lichen. It was almost completely invisible without her on top.

1 of the 2 recently fledged American Kestrel chicks that have used our salt dome at my job. Kdot. Kansas Department of Transportation. Recently fledged female American Kestrel. I think she was saying “Don’t you have something better to do?”

a memorable moment while photographing tree swallows on nest boxes in a local audobon sanctuary. found an egret feather was found and it was instant chaos as just about the entire colony wanted it! As soon as one would claim it and get it to a box, another would steal it. Often 2 or more birds would battle over it in mid air. The mob of sparrows managed to place this feather in at least 6 different boxes before the prize was finally claimed by one lucky pair.

I got to photograph a nearby farm & in one of their small trees was this darling mockingbird nest.

Children can be so demanding, and this Bluebird Mom’s expression, seemed to say it all!

This photo was taken from a far distance with a 600mm lens so as not to disturb this active nest. I was thrilled to come upon this spectacular sight of our majestic national bird so gently feeding its newly hatched chick. From what I was told, the chick was approximately 11 days old. It is amazing how gentle they are for such a large bird. This was a once in a lifetime experience for me and I am thrilled that I was able to capture this image.

A baby Least Tern is very happy to see it parent return to the colony with a fish.

Witnessing this Downy Woodpecker appear from this nest cavity with beak fulls of wood, spit them out only to disappear back inside and repeat the process was magical!

A few years ago we had a tree cut down that was dying and was too close to the house but we made sure about 12 feet of the trunk remained for the birds. This year we had a starling family nest in a tree hole a flicker had excavated.

We arrived on location before sunrise and quietly, gently stayed a safe distance from this burrowing owl family’s artificial plastic burrow. In the first few minutes the parent owls kept occasional glances toward our direction while the chicks were openly curious and stared at us with their huge, round eyes. However, they were pretty soon convinced that we were not a threat and thus went on with their daily routines. With more than a handful of chicks in the family, daddy owl worked quite hard to feed all of his hungry babies. He repeatedly flew to the nearby fields to catch crickets then hurriedly flew back to the nest and fed them to the waiting chicks. This photograph captured one such caring moment between a parent and child.

As I photographed the Great Horned Owl nest a Gray Squirrel ran up the tree with nesting material, she had a nest just three feet above the owls. Mom didn’t seem to care, but the little ones were interested and watched the Squirrel go by several times.

These Pacific-slope Flycatcher chicks see mom with a bill full of insects!

I discovered this Chimney Swift nest as part of a bat survey in a City Park in Allentown PA in July of 2016. As the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society Habitat Committee Chairman, I have built several Chimney Swift towers throughout the park system, and they are my #1 species of conservation concern here. This nest is located in the stone chimney of a log cabin built in the 1720’s. Imagine how many little swifts may have fledged from this chimney in over 290 years!

Sunrise at the beach I was watching this Tern and noticed she had two chicks tucked under her wings,one chick left and this one stayed

Very close to a photo blind at the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge just south of Corvallis, Oregon, we witnessed a pair of Bushtits building their ‘sock-like’ nest. We observed it over a period of six weeks or so, from near the beginning of building it until the young were being feed, apparently, as you can’t see inside but the adult activity would indicate that’s what was going on. Their movement in the ‘sock’ was comical to watch as a bulge would form as they entered, slide down and around inside.

This tiny, sand blown piping plover chick was exploring the beach in New England in search of food.

Very young baby magpie in my front yard being loudly coached by it’s parents in the trees.

This mother Mallard at Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge successfully defended her ducklings against a mink attack by swimming rapidly around the mink, quacking loudly and beating her wings against the water, thus distracting the mink and enabling her ducklings to escape. The mink retreated and the ducklings were soon reunited with their mother.

Male Common Yellowthroat collecting insects for its nestlings at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

dad feeds baby chicks on nest–second chick seems to be calling “Me”

Indigo Bunting
well hidden young nestled deep
within leafy ferns

These two Glaucous-winged Gulls have started their breeding season and are mating now over the next couple of days. They are calm and friendly right now, but as soon as they are incubating their eggs and their chicks start to hatch, they will turn into highly aggressive birds. It is crucial for them to be aggressive, since Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons and North American River Otters will predate their nests.