Lost 2 eggs. Unknown reason.

Dark-eyed Junco naked young

Dark-eyed Junco naked young

Bluebird Nestlings

These are the bluebirds nestlings that hatched from the 5 eggs. A total of 5 nestlings. Hoping they all stay healthy.

House wren babies

Five newly hatched House Wren babies.

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl and Owlet. May 2018

Just hatched!

Just hatched and ready to be fed! Eastern Bluebird chick.

Juvenile Bluebirds learning to hunt

Juvenile Eastern Bluebirds watching the male parent hunting food. They each tried afterward.

These 3 are part of 5 nestlings from the first brood (all successfully fledged) at a nearby nestbox. They have stayed in the area to help the parents with the second brood that are now getting close to fledging.

the Sentry – rarely leaves his position on top of the box

We have watched this Tree Swallow keep watch on top of the nest box for weeks now. Only leaving for short times…The female won’t budge off the nest.

High Desert Bird Life

We have, what I understand to be, a Curve Bill Thrasher nest in a nearby Cholla Cactus. I did see the mother but was not close enough to her for a photo.

4 Phoebe nestlings in our barn

Six-day-old house finch nestling

So much fun nestwatching this year! This is one of five house finch babies we get to watch from our living room window. But this is our last nest for now; everyone else has flown the coop, and these little ones will be gone by the end of next week.

Eastern Phoebe Nest Uses our Barn

The Squeaky Beak Gets The Grub…

One of the Bluebird chicks assumes this posture every time it hears a sound outside its nest, expecting food to magically appear. Sadly, this time it was me making the sound, and the peep went without…this time…

Eastern Phoebe eggs

Near our screen porch, on top of a floodlight.

House wren in Kai’s birdhouse

House Wren

First Fledgling

This nine-day-old cardinal chick managed to get from its nest (shared with two other chicks) in a tangle of honeysuckle onto a tiny branch in a nearby snowball bush. The honeysuckle is on our front porch, about four feet from our front door!

More Backyard Bird Babies…

Three of our four Bluebird peeps on the lookout for the parents…

Another dusk photo, with ISO 3200. Touched up with Ps.

Hatching Eastern Bluebirds

Eastern Bluebirds in the process of hatching. Guy in the middle looks hungry.

House Finches nesting

Eastern Bluebird

5 Eastern Bluebird eggs in my first bluebird house this year.

MOM!!!!

Here we have one of our three Robin peeps that flew the nest yesterday and today (5/28/18).

He made it as far as the top of the fence, and there he’s been for a while. We cannot go near that end of the fence without getting swooped by the adults, as the other two fledglings are in the landscaping adjacent…

One note about the photo…I shot this with my “ancient” Nikon D300 and my “amateur” Nikkor 70-300 VR lens. The old D300 was maxed out on it’s ISO setting, as it was almost completely dark when I shot this. Yes, I PS’ed the heck out of it, but I was nonetheless impressed with the performance of my old, non-pro rig.

Finch nest in hanging porch pot

wating for the finch eggs to hatch, I will submit more pics
the cowbird egg might disappear….

House Finch Nest

Bluebird eggs

The second nesting begins

Hutton’s Vireo, nesting under patio roof

A pair of Hutton’s Vireos are nesting under our patio roof

Black-necked Stilts

Ducks

Carolina Wren eggs

This nest was found in my laundry room in Summerville, SC

House Wren Eggs in Nest

These eggs are from the wrens that evicted a pair of Black-capped Chickadees from a just completed nest. At least the wrens have decided to actually use the nest box!

Loggerhead Shrikes

Newly hatched bluebird

SUMMER TANAGER

FIRST SIGHTING OF THE SUMMER TANAGER. THE LARGER FEMALE VISITED MY BIRDBATH EACH EVENING TO BATH.

BATH TIME

PHOTO IMAGES EXTRACTED FROM VIDEO TAKEN IN MY YARD AT MY BIRDBATH. YOUNG EASTERN BLUEBIRDS REMAIN IN THE AREA AFTER HATCHING, THEY ARE JOINED BY A CARDINAL, CAROLINA CHICKADEE AND TUFFED TITMOUSE. 1ST TIME I HAVE EVER OBTAINED FOOTAGE OF 4 DIFFERENT BIRDS ATTENDING THE BATH AT THE SAME TIME. THE CARDINAL EVENTUALLY BULLIED THE OTHERS AWAY.

Tufted Titmouse nest

A FAMILY-SIZED MEALWORM DINNER

Mom is bringing home a family-sized dinner for her brood tonight. Bluebirds LOVE mealworms, but I’m careful not to offer too many. They aren’t as nutritious as a natural diet and they can be hard for young nestlings to digest.

Bluebird family

Returning bluebird pair had 5 healthy eggs that have hatched. This pair had 3 nests last year and only 2 babies fledged.

Northern Cardinal Eggs

Bluebirds growing fast

Robin’s Nest

Mourning Dove Eggs

Loggerhead Shrike

Screech Owl chicks 22 days old.

The one looking at the camera flew out. I caught it and put it back in the nest box.

Nests I’m Watching

2nd nest this spring in the same nestbox.

Tree Swallow

Male tree swallow on guard. Female is currently building the nest

Dark-eyed Junco eggs

Dark-eyed Junco eggs in a flower pot of Gaillardia

Carolina Wren Nest Building

Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike feeding it’s fledgling a caterpillar!

Tree Swallows

Tree swallows just discovered my nest box

House wren nest

House wren building a nest in a bird house

Robin’s nest

I was watching this nest from Mother’s Day for a week,

House Finch Nest with Cowbird Egg

Discovery of house finch nest on our wreath on our front door! We noticed the house finches stealing our artificial wrath twigs last month and now we found that they built a nest! It seems we have a cowbird egg in there. The House Finch hasn’t abandoned the nest yet! Will keep an eye on it and leave out the back door for a while.

Loggerhead Shrike gathering nesting meaterial!

Northern Cardinal – Naked Young

Little Woodpecker

Mockingbird hatchling

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Eastern Bluebird Fledgling

Despite the rain, this little guy is adorable!

Eastern bluebird

Carolina Wren Eggs! 5/20/18

Carolina Wren nest in our carport!

Loggerhead Shrike building a nest!

Bluebird hatchlings

Feeding the Young

Loggerhead Shrike

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Robin’s Nestlings

American Robin nestlings

Robin\’s Eggs

Found in an old nest at the base of our only tree in our small yard – it’s very low to the ground! Beautiful and fun to watch the parents hop and fly around. Our little dogs don’t seem to startle mom/dad away (they don’t bark much).

Robin’s Nest

Loggerhead Shrike Fledgling (Is this the orignal arngy bird)

Tree Swallow at Olson Elementary School outdoor classroom

Tree Swallow nest in box on Olson School prairie walk. Two eggs laid since yesterday. Today’s date May 17, 2018. Second graders got to peek!
Tree Swallow nest box May 18, 2018. Another egg for this nest. Third graders got to peek today!

This is the third year that we have hosted tree swallows in this box. Previously we had three years of bluebirds using the box.
Very exciting for the students to observe.

Camp Grandpa, Nest 4

Northern Mockingbird. “Nest in natural cavity” was the closest option. It’s actually in a shrublike tree.

Camp Grandpa, Nest 3

No eggs yet.

4 eggs in the 2nd next of the season

Latest nest visit.

Owl chicks 15 days old

Owl Chicks

Morning dove clutch 1 May 2018

Mourning dove nest in car seat left on top of outdoor shelving

Eastern “Azure” Bluebird eggs

Loggerhead Shrikes

Loggerhead Shrike Family

This Loggerhead Shrike just fed a Gecko to it’s fledgling!

Carolina Wren Chicks

Wren Chicks nested in a concrete mixer. First discovered May 2, 2018 and left the morning of May 15, 2018. Nest had 4-5 chicks at beginning and 3 when last observed.

Healthy Bluebird chicks!

House Wren Takeover

House Wren Takeover

Black-capped Chickadees evicted by House Wrens. Wrens constructing a nest on top of the mossy chickadee nest.

Dad Feeding Mom

Videos posted to public album:

Deck Nest

One Week of Growth in House Finches

Barred Owl Family

Our nest box was put up a little too late for the first year. I tried really hard to have it ready but I just didn’t finish in time for them to get used to it being in the area. Year 2 was a success!! We were starting to think we’d never get to see them use the nest box, but one day we saw something peeking out! You can see the entire build, story and galleries, here: https://tidehomes.com/melton-team-home-diy-projects/mr-mrs-barred-hootie/

Black-capped Chickadee’s Quick Exit

Quick exit by Black-capped Chickadee during nest construction. This box built to NestWatch plans for titmouse/nuthatch. Chickadees like it just fine. The pole is located in a mossy area.

This week, a pair of House Wrens took possession of an empty nest box built to chickadee specifications!

Twig nest under way by House Wrens.

Twig nest under way by House Wrens.

Black-capped Chickadee nest under way

Nestbox repair

Last Thursday we had a severe thunderstorm with strong winds. A combination of aging plastic and the storm caused the brackets to fail and the box fell off its pole with five Eastern Bluebird nestlings inside. They had hatched about two weeks ago so were fairly mature. My next-door neighbor heard the parents in distress and saw the box and the babies on the ground. He gently put them back in the box and came to get me. The parents were sticking close by so we had to do something super quick. Yes, this is duct tape and a canine cone of shame for a baffle. We knew it only needed to last a few days so it was ugly but functional. The parents were right back in there feeding them on a very regular basis. As of today, I’m happy to report all of the babies fledged and I was able to enter a closed and successful nest attempt. Long live the bluebird babies and their parents. RIP nestbox.

Eastern Bluebird family in Pennsylvania

Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike building a nest!

American Robin Parent And Chicks Visit 5 (NestWatch Site A1311816)

These images were taken on 05/10/2018. I tried uploading them before, but for some reason they wouldn’t upload.

Birds coexisting

Robin built nest on top of smaller bird’s house. Both have babies and will often feed them at the same time.

Birds coexisting

This video was recorded in May 2018. Small birds returned to this nest after raising babies summer 2017. Shortly thereafter, a pair of Robins started building a nest directly on top of their birdhouse. Both have babies and will often feed their babies at the same time. This birdhouse is located under our covered porch, so close to human activity that I assumed this birdhouse would just be decorative.

Greed Is Good

I put out about a dozen newly molted mealworms for the bluebirds every day. Moderation is key. The nestlings should have a variety of different prey items for best nutrition. On cold rainy days like today, the overworked parents really appreciate the family-sized meal. The soft skinned newly molted larvae are a little easier for the nestlings to swallow than the harder skinned ones.

Loggerhead Shrike building a nest!

This Loggerhead Shrike was bringing nesting material to it’s nest!

Killdeer are Precocial

Been watching this nest and happened upon the afternoon they hatched–first 2, then 3, this morning 4.