Our first real glimpse of activity around the nest these two Carolina Wren's built in the yucca in our backyard (other than Momma Wren sitting on the nest).
Music
Spring Morning
by Maarten Schellekens
Momma Wren
Our Weimaraner, Luna, kept wandering around the yucca in the corner of our backyard. On closer inspection, what she was interested in was a bird nest with 5 eggs in it. I put up some fencing material that would keep Luna out but not interfere with the parents coming and going from the nest, then set up my camera a bit away from the nest with a telephoto lens and shot video for about an hour.
After bringing the camera in and inspecting the video, I found a section where the mother had come back to the nest and was sitting on the eggs. This is a clip from that video.
We aren't sure how long the eggs have been there but wren eggs take 12-16 weeks to incubate and it hasn't been that long since our last freeze so our best guess is that we'll see hatchlings in late April or early May.
Stay tuned!
Music by Podington Bear
"Wren"
Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Chad Crouch
Nature's Nightlights
Drop by St Francis Park any evening this time of year and you're likely to have quite a show. It is amazing the number of fireflies in the park during summertime.
One evening last week, I set up my camera along the edge of the woods at back of the park and let it run for about a half-hour, snapping a shot every 10 seconds. When I merged all the images, this was the result. As each shot was about 4 seconds long, many of the fireflies I captured appear as a streak. Others that show up as a dot had either just lit up, were sitting still or were moving towards the camera.
What is incredible to me is how high they fly. Click on the image to see full screen and check out the yellow spots way up in the trees!
Of course, you don't have to go to the park to see fireflies... we saw a few flying over a neighbor's yard while out walking tonight. But if you want a real show, to see an incredible number of them, head over to the park. Just stick to the edge of the areas where you see them, try not to disturb them.
For more information on fireflies, check out firefly.org.
May Was a Rough Month for Bird's at Our House
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| Remnants of finch nest |
Unfortunately, it must have been just a bit too noisy, attracting some unwanted attention. Yesterday, we discovered parts of a dead chick on the porch. One glance at the nest and I had a pretty good idea there was more to it than just one chick. What a mess! A quick check inside confirmed that all the chicks were gone.
I'm not sure who the culprit was. It would be a tight squeeze for an owl and I suspect the nest would have been even more torn up. Maybe a cat? A rat? We will probably never know. Perhaps if I'd had the video camera set up for this nest, I'd have proof but I am actually glad I didn't have it up this time.
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| A nest was on top of post in slot between beams |
Meanwhile, at the back of the house, there was apparently another issue with a bird's nest.
A few weeks ago, I hung up a fly trap - one of the sticky kind - on the side of a post on our patio. Today, we found it covered in bird feathers. We also realized that tucked in between two beams at the top of the post was what was either the beginning of (or what was left of) a bird nest.
I am not sure exactly which bird built the nest and which one got stuck to the fly trap. Given how close they were, I imagine it was the same bird. Our best guess is that it was a Carolina Wren as we have seen a pair hanging out under the eves of the patio roof off and on over the past year.
Hopefully, these are the last of our "bird disasters" for a while...
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