Eastern Bluebird. The male observes the neighborhood in a nearby tree before he brings food to the nestlings.
There is a lot going on in the woods and the nest boxes around here. Hard to follow it all with equal attention.
The Eastern Bluebirds in the nest box have hatched a few days ago. I had a brief look into the box but wasn’t able to see how many nestlings came out of the five eggs because the nest is very deep. Time will tell. Both parents are feeding vigorously and bring caterpillars, spiders, little worms, and moths to their offspring every few minutes. I saw the male still catching insects tonight at 8:45PM . It’s a hungry bunch!
Female American Robin preparing a new nest
Yesterday a female American Robin was building a new nest in a tree just across from my office window. It might be even on top of a first nest that most likely was built at the end of April already. With other words, they work on the second brood already. The female collected very quickly dried grass and other plant material and glued it together with wet dirt from underneath a bird bath. After dropping the grass in the nest the robin rigged it with her feet and it looked like she was trampling it in place. The male watched the surrounding area and chased everyone away that came close to the nest. I saw him a couple times going after the bluebird.
Male House Wren inspecting a nest box.
The tiny male House Wren still sings his heart out to attract a female to one of the nest boxes we provide for them since many years. Once in a while he inspects one of the nesting chambers and the photo was made when he came out of the hole. As I said before, hard to follow all nesting activities at this time of the year…
All images: 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, @ 840mm,