Mockingbird Babies

These precious babies were a week old here. The family had a nest in a small tree right by our house. I had the privilege of photographing them once a day.

No Room at the Inn

I had a very nice fairy garden set up on some shelves on my back porch this summer. It was made up of geodes, Dept 56 fairy tale house, and fairy figurines. One day, I noticed the fairy figurines had been tossed off the shelf and replaced instead with a small grouping of sticks. I threw the sticks off the shelf, thinking my husband had did this as a joke. But he said he had no idea how the rearrangement occurred. Until the next day, we noticed that the fairies were gone once again and this time you could tell a nest was being built amongst the geodes. The next morning, my husband woke me up and exclaimed, “I know who is building the nest!” And I got up, looked outside and saw two mourning doves working together; one sitting and forming the nest and the other going and getting twigs. They were so beautiful and the nest so perfectly situated next to the fairy house, that we decided to let them stay. I did some research and found out who the female and male were. In this picture, the male had just given the female a branch to add to the nest. She searched amongst the other twigs and then, very carefully positioned the twig into the nest. It was fun & interesting to see them work together. They would work for awhile in the morning and then, disappear for the rest of the day, returning the next day to continue. They did this for about 4 days and then, finally stayed on the nest, after laying 2 white eggs.

“Feeding Time”

Adult Wren brings supper back to her peeps, with their wide-open little maws, who are pleading at the nest box opening…

Baby Steps

Hungry Heron

As an urban birder, North Pond in Chicago offers a wide variety of birds from waterfowl to raptors. I spotted this green heron on the north end of the pond as it was catching some lunch.

Three cute Red-breasted Nuthatch Nestlings looking out of Nest

Every chance I had I visited this nest. These little babies were adorable to watch as they all fought to look out of the nest. I love how the one on the very left eyes is closed as if it is annoyed with its siblings.

Spotted Sandpiper Eggs

I came across this nest while on a fishing trip. I had never seen a nest on the ground before, I will not forget how struck I was by the nest and 4 speckled eggs.

Roseate Spoonbill Nest

This Roseate Spoonbill nest was located in a rookery in southern Louisiana. Many different species of birds nest at the rookery, including herons,egrets and spoonbills. Alligators also live there, eating all of the nest predators for the birds.