BUSY PURPLE MARTINS

Male Purple Martin, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

I still have a few photos from our recent trip to Minnesota but today I like to share some actual pictures that were made yesterday. I had received an information about the current breeding activities of the Purple Martins (Thank you Mike!) and went down to Mud Lake at the Mississippi River. Three days ago both breeding towers had more than 75 eggs and almost 30 nestlings had hatched already. The parents were very busy to feed and to guard each nesting chamber. I believe each tower holds 18 chambers.

Female with her latest catch at the martin house

I have plenty of pictures with martins sitting at the entrance of a nest box but I really wanted some shots with a bird in flight, approaching the nest or just hovering in front of it.

However, the second image shows a female with a dragon fly in its bill and waiting in front of the entrance hole of her nest. It took about four minutes before she turned around and entered the box to feed the offspring.

Female Purple Martin

If you are not familiar with the habits and biology of our largest swallow, you can find a lot of information about these birds on the websites of the CornellLab or the Purple Martin Conservation Association.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Martin/

https://www.purplemartin.org

The Purple Martin is a very interesting bird and it is fun to watch how they catch all their food in flight and get their drinks by scooping water from the surface of the river or pond with their lower bill.

MANY NESTING ACTIVITIES

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,

NATURE CLICKS #606 - BOBOLINKS, READY FOR THE NESTING SEASON

Male Bobolink, Technology Park, Dubuque, Iowa

Bobolinks have one of the longest migration routes. They spend the winter in Bolivia, Paraguay, western Brazil, or northern Argentina. They breed in grassland habitats and it is important that the grass is not mowed during the breeding time. This happened unfortunately here in the Dubuque, Iowa area in one of the habitats in 2023, due to human ignorance. The Bobolink is one of the few songbirds that undergo two complete molts each year. After breeding the male changes to a more drab and camouflaged plumage.

I found at least 4 male Bobolinks today and saw briefly even a female in the grass of the Dubuque Technology Park. The Dubuque Audubon Society has worked with the city so that mowing in the undeveloped lots takes place only outside of the nesting season. Signs around these areas inform the public about this natural treasure. Other bird species can be present as well and toady I saw American Robins, an Eastern Meadowlark, Barn Swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, and an Eastern Kingbird.

I made a number of shots while standing or kneeling at the edge of the grassland lots but the distance to the birds was a little bit too far for a pleasing photo. Later I parked the car with the driver side against the curb and shot both photos from my ”mobile blind”.