FEEDING A HUNGRY BUNCH

Second brood of House Wrens in the bird box

It’s not just the bluebirds that raise a second brood in our backyard. As other years before the House Wrens feed young birds again. About a week ago I checked the bird box and counted six eggs in the nest. I checked again yesterday and it looks like all have hatched, although it was impossible to count the nestlings in this little bowl of feathers.

In this humid and warm weather here in eastern Iowa at the moment there are plenty of insects and larvae. Both parents feed with high intensity. Here the female went into the box with food in its bill. A few seconds later the male often shows up and passes his catch to the female. In this instance the female didn’t take it but the male House Wren went to the nest after the female had left.

It amazes me always how big of a prey these baby birds can swallow. Look at the size of the bug in the male’s bill!!

TENDING A SECOND BROOD

Male Eastern Bluebird

It’s exciting to report that our pair of Eastern Bluebirds at the edge of the woods behind the house is working on a second brood. The first one in June contained 4 eggs and I saw three of the juveniles in the backyard on June 28th. I read in the book ”Bluebirds!” by Steve Grooms & Dick Peterson that about 65% of the eggs hatch. With other words, counting three fledgelings after they left the nest seems too be a success.

Shortly after the first brood I had cleaned out the nest box but a few days later one of the male House Wrens had filled it with small twigs and sticks to claim it for himself. I cleaned out again and and a couple days later the female bluebird had built another nest from grass and other soft material. About a week ago I checked the nest again and four eggs were laid. This morning another check revealed that five eggs are in the nest box and none had hatched yet. Looking inside takes only a few seconds and I only do it when both parents are not present.

Female Eastern Bluebird

This was a good reason this afternoon to sit in a camping chair away from the box and watch the bluebirds tending their nest. It was quite warm again today and the female retuned to the nest every 15-20 minutes and spent about 1-2 minutes in the nest box. The male bluebird guards the place from nearby trees and sometimes comes to the roof of the box. The incubation of the second brood takes about 13 days and I’m sure we are not far away from having the babies cracking the egg shells.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Westscott FJ80 II speed light,   @ 840mm (1260 mm equivalent in DX mode), 1/125s, f/9, ISO1600

It was a great opportunity to work with the ”Small Bird Rig” again (see my blog post from June 8th for details on this new setup). The Westcott FJ80II speed light was set to manual mode (range 5) and this very subtle hint of flash reveals the colors beautifully in this ambient light situation with the sun muted by the canopy of the trees.

I have been asked by a photography friend a little while ago about the sharpness of the Z 600 f/6.3 lens combined with the Z 1.4 teleconverter. Well, here is a photo I created today with this combo and also shot in DX mode, means with a smaller part of the sensor. This makes it an equivalent with a focal length of 1260 mm. The photo was shot at 1/125s from a tripod and is not cropped. The low resolution image here in the blog may not reveal every detail but comparing the original RAW files with each other I can’t see any decrease in sharpness by using the teleconverter. This was not always the case with older equipment I used to own.

THE WREN STORY

This photo was made less than a minute before #2 left the nest for good. The little guy was called by the parents and when it had its feet out of the hole, I knew the fledgling would not return.

I’m sorry, it happened already five days ago, but life stood in the way and as you probably figured out by my recent blog posts, other events here in the woods above the Little Maquoketa Valley have been worth to share with you as well. Our young House Wrens left their nest box last week and even if we watch this since seventeen years now every summer, it’s always a good reason to celebrate the wonders of nature.

First landing place was between a patch of iris flowers that just were done blooming.

Oh, I can hold on to a tree! The parents watch every step and don’t let any other bird even come close to their offspring.

After two wrens had left the nest the parents kept feeding two more in the bird box. They did not leave until the nest morning.

Live goes on, while all of the above still happened, the male House Wren sent out enticing calls to attract the same or another female for a next round of breeding. However, his eyes were also kept on the offspring of the first brood.

FEEDING THE SECOND BROOD

Male House Wren (German: Zaunkönig) waiting for his turn to feed the offspring with a good size spider

Our House Wrens are currently feeding their second brood. The little wrens grow rapidly and started making noise in the nest box. The parents are great, coming in with spiders, caterpillars, and insects every few minutes. The first brood this year was successfully raised already in June and behind the house, at another nest box, is a second wren couple busy feeding their offspring. The warm weather we had lately provides an abundance of supply for the little birds and we just enjoy watching them from our porch during “cocktail hour” in the evening.

1/40 s, f/6.3, ISO 200, @ 600 mm, -1/3 EV, flash -5.0 EV; with Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender;

FEEDING A SECOND BROOD

Summer has passed its peak and most birds are done with their offspring. Not so the House Wrens. Mother wren has incubated a second clutch of eggs and is currently feeding her babies in a gourd that hangs from our porch. We have two bird boxes for the wrens in the front yard but it isn’t the first time that they use a different location for the second brood. Usually we see both parents feeding but this time the male hasn’t shown up at the nest yet, although he is still around. Maybe as the little birds grow during the next days, and more food is needed, he might support the effort.

It was raining this evening and there wasn’t much light available. I just played around with the camera for some practice and was surprised that even a halfway sharp image turned out. This was shot with 1/20s at 600mm. The female wren checks the surroundings carefully before she flies up to the entrance hole of the gourd with the much needed food.

CARING HOUSE WRENS

The young House Wrens in our nest box start peeking out of the hole in expectation to be fed by their parents. I have seen at least two young birds but it sounds like there might be three or even four in the nest. You never know for sure but they make a lot of noise. The parents bring insects, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and spiders a lot more frequently than a week ago, a sure sign that the little guys will leave the nest shortly, possibly during the next two or three days. This is the second successful brood this summer for the wrens. We had more than just this one couple around here. The males are fierce competitors for nest holes and don’t like other birds near their chosen nest site. We found a destroyed and abandoned nest of the Northern Cardinals in a shrub between our two nest boxes earlier this summer, most likely the work of a House Wren.

This male with the spider in its bill gave me a few seconds before it flew to the nest. The sun was hidden most of the time but the clouds opened up suddenly for a brief moment and changed the light pattern. Adjusting the exposure compensation quickly for the ambient light was key for this photo. Because of the overcast I had the flash above the lens in order to bring out the colors. It also helped when the sun came out to lower the contrast by filling in the shadows, like on the chest of the bird. Flash compensation was set to -4 (-2 in camera, -2 at the flash light). This low amount delivers just the extra hint of light without creating a second shadow.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender