After seeing a phoebe searching for a nesting sight around the house in early spring, I put up a small nesting shelf in a protected area over our garage door. A nest was built, eggs laid, young hatched and eventually left the nest. At one point the feeding seemed non-stop during the day. With a ladder-blind some yards away and a 300 mm lens this photo was taken as the parent was feeding one of the young. All young left the nest a couple of days later.
In 2015 we were fortunate to have a pair of American Robins build a nest and raise young in a large maple tree next to our deck. With a ladder blind and 300mm lens I was able to photograph the family for a few days. This photo was taken in late afternoon with natural sunlight shining on the hungry young.
This beautiful male bluebird has fathered 11 babies this year. He deserves a super sized helping.
Female Eastern Bluebird brings baby a spider for lunch.
A parent bald eagle delivers a fawn to its nest where there are 3 juvenile eagles. This nest is located along the Yakima River Canyon Road …. a spectacular drive south of Ellensburg. I have followed it for several years … and this was the third consecutive year that the pair had nested there. Over the years watching and photographing the adults bring food to the nest, with exception of this delivery, all were fish.
A parent landing with its catch at its nesting area with a highly animated hungry sibling and the other parent squawking its homecoming excitement. These Terns nest on the roof of an abandoned warehouse near the Port of Everett harbor.
Caspian Terns nest on the top of an abandoned 4 story old building near the Everett Harbor. This parent caught a fish and then landed where this fledging was sitting in shallow water to transfer the fish to its sibling.
while watching a mother swallow feed her babies, she continually would knock one or two off the branch, finally one of them was able to snag a meal.
A tired-looking Little Blue Heron parent and its hungry fledglings
Red-winged Blackbirds have been nesting in a field nearby, and I have been able to photograph them catching prey for their babies. This female Red-wing Blackbird has caught a pretty good size bug for lunch.
The live beetles are crawling up to mother bird’s face while the baby bird trying to eat them. It looks as if the mother was saying “Hurry up, and take a big bite!”
Taken in our farm yard.
The robin chicks are spreading their wings. The first chick left the nest the day before this picture was taken, these two left the nest a few hours after this picture was taken.
The robin’s nest is under the eave of a house. The robin chick is just opening its eyes, and is getting a mouthful. There were 3 chicks in the nest.
I had been trying for days to get this photo of the hummingbird feeding its young, when on the last day I was going to be able to watch the nest I was blessed to get the photo of my dreams.
Daddy bluebird feeding baby at our backyard feeder.
Barn swallow feeding time
I was thrilled to see the a Northern Flicker, a Blue Jay and a Sparrow eating peacefully together at our bird feeder!
I am a nine year-old photographer and birder, so I was excited to find my first Red-breasted Nuthatch nest. I waited in the heat with my camera poised, waiting for the perfect photo opportunity. When the mother came, I quickly clicked, and was rewarded with this photo.
The goldfinches visit our backyard every summer. They ignore the bird feeder and prefer to eat directly from the sunflowers!
Glen Canyon Park in San Francisco is like my backyard. I am supposed to know all resident birds. Somehow this Nuttall’s Woodpecker family eluded my detection until noisy feeding activities got my attention.
This catbird was quite comfortable with me watching, but baby would not come out of the brush.
I did a double-take when I saw a male Cardinal feeding what was obviously not a young cardinal. When I realized that the young was a cowbird, I understood that the bond between a parent and its nestling goes beyond appearances.
My resident Sharp-shinned Hawk feasting on a Mourning Dove
A mother Calliope feeding her young in my neighbor’s yard.
baby barn swallows wait patiently on a snag (high chair area) to be fed.
Taken outside our kitchen window in our Locust Tree.
The adult gull feeds tiny pieces at first.
The herring gull egg FINALLY hatched and momma (or daddy) is looking lovingly at the chick.
On a trip to Colorado, we spotted a Red-naped Sapsucker nest in an Aspen tree. The male came with food for the chicks every few minutes, allowing for great views. In this shot, he has food for the chicks.
Daddy bluebird feeding one of his recently fledged young
Papa Pileated is feeding his female nestling while her brother squawks impatiently for his turn.
This Pileated Woodpecker nest was in one of many dead trees in the middle of a beaver pond. I took the photo from my pack boat.
Having just arrived at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, I did a late afternoon drive and came upon a few Western Grebe families among a large group of their brethren and enjoyed the show. Whenever the male would bring in a small fish, the chicks on the female’s back would be anxious to be the one to get the treat.
I spent several summers photographing an Osprey family from a scaffolding at a nearby farm. This allowed many intimate moments with the family as they totally ignored me. The male is watching over the feeding of his just presented fish.
I have been photographing this Oyster Catcher for numerous years and when I found out that finally after 10 unsuccessful years they had a successful hatch of 2 chicks this year! I had to see them. I waited about 1 week. I arrived before sunrise and stayed in one place on my belly and waited. As of today the 2 chicks have been banded A64 and A65 .
The Male Redbellied Woodecker and his son had just landed on the rose arbor a few feet from my bird feeder. He was very watchful and waited quite a while before leaving the youngster to get some seed. The next photo shows him feeding his son.
We were birdwatching and my granddaughter pointed out this charming scene to me. I grabbed the camera and was lucky to record the male Redbellied Woodpecker feeding his son (I can see a bit of red on the youngster’s head)
It was mom’s turn to feed one of the three young flickers in their palm tree nest hole. I monitored the nest from a distance every few days and enjoyed watching both parents take turns feeding their young. It was fun watching them get their feathers and start looking like real little flickers!
A nesting pair of American Kestrels had hatched out 5 nestlings and spent much of their time delivering food to the new birds. Most of the time the male was out hunting and there was a delivery ritual when he brought back food for the nest. Here the male is just arriving back to deliver a mouse to the female who will take to the nest in a kestrel box.
Canyon Wrens live in barns and other open buildings in our area of the TX hill country. We have had a pair living around our farmyard, and have closely observed them for over 10 years. This nest box is in the “shop-cave” and is used every year at least once.
A pair of American Kestrels had nested in a kestrel box on the edge of the Boise foothills and hatched out 5 eggs. All nestlings were females and they had big appetites that kept the parents shuffling food in all day long. Here the female parent delivers a fresh lizard to one of the nestlings at the opening in the kestrel box.
Canyon Wrens live in barns and other open buildings in our area of the TX hill country. We have had a pair living with us, and have closely observed them for over 10 years. This box is in the “shop-cave” and is used every year at least once. I have a blind set up and can get great nest photos. Due to their rock-climbing abilities, the adults can do what we call “yoga” grips on things as this mom is doing.
Osprey nest box in Lewes, Delaware, showing Dad pulling a fish apart and a juvenile osprey waiting for his meal.
There were two white-eyed vireos bringing grubs to a nest, they made the coolest buzzy sound every time they came in with more food.
These white-tailed kites built a nest in the top of a eucalyptus tree at the Hayward shoreline. By climbing up a small hill across the parking lot from the tree, I found that I could just see the male over the top of the tree each time he brought a fresh vole.
When the baby swallows saw mom coming they all opened wide for feeding
This juvenile bluebird is from the first brood. He helped feed the second and third brood. They are on brood number four now so it will be interesting to see if he is allowed to help them too.
While my mom was sitting outside, she realized that there was a female hummingbird building a nest in our backyard, up in a tree. The hummingbird started sitting in the nest and eventually, the eggs hatched. The baby hummingbirds continued to grow and the mother came to feed them. One day, while my mom and I were watching the hummingbirds, the mother came to feed them. At that moment, I realized that it was the perfect moment to get a photo of the mother feeding her babies. So I grabbed the camera and took a picture while the mother was still feeding and it turned out better then I thought it would!
Elly Drazic
12 years old
These house wrens nest in the box on our front porch almost every year. We love watching and listening to them!
Parent Bluebird working hard to feed the recently fledged Bluebird constantly begging for food.
A female Anna’s hummingbird with two chicks waiting for lunch.
This Summer Tanager nest was high in a oak tree in our yard. Their nests are not well hidden, and last year their nest was raided by a Raven that ate the eggs. I checked every day to make sure these babies were still there. I found one narrow sight line where I could see the nest clearly, and set up my pop-up blind to hide and get photos. The babies survived and fledged!
When the serviceberries get ripe Cedar Waxwing, along with a host of other birds, come to dine. I have noted adult Cedar Waxwings feeding their young serviceberries on a number of occasions. I conjecture that they may be teaching these newly fledged birds what berries are edible, as I don’t witness this behavior later in the summer.
Bluebirds raise 3-4 broods each year in the house at the corner of our garden, and I was fortunate enough to catch this moment during feeding time.
This male hooded oriole is preparing to feed his hatchlings a delicious green caterpilllar in one of our California fan palms. I think he caught me, what do you think?
brown thrasher feeding little one
male bluebird bringing a slug to feed to chicks
I spotted the young Orchard Oriole sitting quietly on a branch, when Dad suddenly appeared with breakfast! Over the next ten minutes, the routine was repeated several times.
I first discovered this nest on April 13. On tbe 24th of April I was very fortunate to have my camera ready when one of the parents arrived with the green snake to feed mate and young. What isn’t visible are the chicks. I saw the first one on April 30. There were three babies.
The pair raised all three. The last young left the nest on the 5th of June.
Feeding time on fledging day.
This Wood Thrush nest, built with plenty of trash, was down low in a young birch right in my back yard. I watched this family from nest-building to successful fledging.
Look closely and you can see the bill of the young in the adult’s throat!
I watched this family for several minutes Mom has three chicks on her back and Dad repeatedly dived in for a fish and brought it “home”.
Two Baby Egrets Nagging Their Mother for a meal
I am lucky enough to live with several very large, very old (over 100 years) Tamarack trees in my yard. Last summer was the first summer I observed Ruby-throated Hummingbirds nesting in these trees and I was immediately hooked into watching them construct their nests, incubate their eggs, feed the young, and ultimately, see the young fledge. This fascinating experience is what led me to participate in Nest Watch this summer and, so far, I have located 5 Ruby-throated Hummingbird nests and am observing and recording data on each of them. The nest in this photo was the second one I found this summer, and the first one to fledge. Although there were two eggs and two nestlings earlier, by fledging time, only 1 young hummer had survived. This one successfully fledged the day after I took this photo.
Pictures were taken out the front door hiding behind wreath on the door.
I was lucky enough to be able to lay and watch this Least Tern family as the sun was coming up. These chicks were less than 24 hours old because you could still see the “egg tooth” . (Taken with 600mm lens.)
Eastern Kingbirds have nested in this particlar Hawthorne Tree overhanging our pond for years. It is always fun to watch the parents feeding their young.
This swallow is feeding its babies dragonflies for dinner The day after this picture was taken, the babies fledged.
This mama coot just fed her baby a snail, then watched intently while the baby swallowed its treat.
An Arctic Tern baby can’t swallow fish as fast as mother brings them
A hummingbird moved in to our deck, built a nest, and owned the deck for about five weeks.
We were pretty much not allowed to use the deck, but I was able to get some pictures that I could not have gotten anywhere else.
A male cardinal feeds his offspring along the fence next to my back yard feeders.
Every year, the House Finches are the first birds to fledge in our yard. In the space of a day, the yard and trees are filled with the strident sounds of begging fledglings. Interestingly, I usually only see the males feeding the nestlings – I wonder if the female is still tending nestlings?