pond morning sounds

Mornings near the pond are so peaceful, with the birds singing and the breeze rustling through the grasses and reeds. 

Then you notice the bullfrogs calling. It is said they can be heard up to a quarter mile away.  They are vociferous from early June through July.

nest cams ready

Nest cameras are ready in the wild wild woods! This is one camera's view into a wooden nest box from the inside of the roof, looking down.

The birds are singing, defining their territories, and looking for mates.  I cleaned out three wooden nest boxes at the woods' edge, and three pvc nesting tubes in the woods.

They all look as barren inside as this one but will soon be stuffed with an assortment of twigs, grasses, fur, fluff, string, and feathers for nesting.

water for birds

A pair of Red-Bellied Woodpeckers Melanerpes carolinus occasionally come out of the woods to eat suet and drink at the water bowl.  The female has less red on her head than this male, but the female has more red feathers apparent on her belly.

Black-capped Chickadees

 

The Black-capped Chickadees Poecile atricapillus nested in the tube, incubated six eggs, and now have all those chirping babies to feed.

building a nest

bluebirds - brood 2, day 7

Feeding time is ever amazing in the bluebird nest box. We were watching while the female was in the box with 4 hatchlings; the male brought a long worm to the entrance. The worm resisted the handoff, and the female bluebird had trouble grasping it. She left the box and the male brought the worm back in to feed his youngsters. It took him a few tries, but he did succeed. This would be a challenge for any marksman: stuff a writhing worm into the gape of a wobbly-headed baby bird. These parents are doing a good job -- all 4 hatchlings seem to be thriving.

bluebirds - brood 2 hatched

The four bluebird eggs have become helpless little hatchlings. I watched today as the female brought some food, then the male brought in a many-legged item to feed them. She tried to convey it to the young but between their helpless writhing and the bug's wiggling legs, I'm not sure where it went. She did remove a "diaper bag", and he went back out to find something more suitable to feed those hungry beaks gaping in the nest.

wren - second brood in snag box

In the wild woods we placed two PVC-tube nest boxes that simulate the tree snags which birds use for nesting sites. We packed sawdust in the tubes to make them seem like a decaying tree snag. Both have been totally excavated; earlier this season we watched a pair of black-capped chickadees remove all the sawdust from one tube before they built their nest inside. The other tube is excavated and has accumulated some nesting material but no active nest thus far. The tube that was the site of the successful chickadee nest is now the nest of a house wren. She laid her first egg today!

chickadees - fledged

The first brave little Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla) left the nest on Friday, day 17 after hatching. The other 5 launched themselves out of the nest on Saturday after much coaxing from the adults outside.

chickadees - 11 days old

Watching the 6 chickadee hatchlings on the video cam is addictive. Amazing how fast they are growing. Expect them to fledge out of the nest at day 15 or 16. In addition to this video cam in roof of the snag box, we're adding cameras outside to observe and record their fledging.

bluebird - first egg

This spring a pair of bluebirds (Sialia sialis) settled into the nestbox, and Bill’s camera system allowed me to get some amazing footage without disturbing the nest. Here the female is laying her first of 5 eggs.