As I stalked the nest of the rescued baby bird featured in a posting last week, hoping to catch sight of its parents, I took this shot. Can you identify the bird from this photo of it entering the nesting cavity?
Let me back off a little and explain. The nest in question is inside of a crabapple tree in the front yard of a neighbor’s house, about a yard or so (one meter) above the ground. There are two openings and you can sometimes see the baby birds’ heads pop up through the lower opening, which serves as a window. I learned that the upper opening serves as an entry door for the parents. This is one of my initial shots with my 100mm macro lens of the tree, with one of the parents entering the “door.”
I came back at a later time with my 135-400mm lens and set up my tripod on the sidewalk and waited. It was mid-afternoon and the sun was shining almost directly into the opening, which complicated the exposure, but my patience was rewarded when the parents made multiple trips into the nest. This is another shot of one of them entering the nest, which you can see is a pretty tight squeeze.
I am not that great at making bird identifications from the rear, so my job was greatly facilitated when one of the birds paused and turned to the side prior to entering the nest. The mystery birds are Tufted Titmice (Baeolophus bicolor). I can’t quite figure out what the little bird has in its bill, but assume that it is something edible. Can anyone else tell what it is?
Timing was tricky as I tried to maintain my focus and the sidewalk was not all that comfortable. (I should bring a cushion next time.) Sometimes the parents would signal their imminent arrival with a call, but sometimes they would fly in out of nowhere. I attempted to capture the birds flying in and then flying out of the nest. Here is one of the few shots I was able to get of one of the parents preparing to leave the nesting cavity.
Sometimes when processing my photos, I come across one that I really like, even though it has all kinds of technical problems. I decided to end this posting with such a photo. The bird has already flown out of focus, but is clearly visible and is casting a cool shadow just below the entry into the nest.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
It looks like the bird is carryin in a pupal case of some butterfly or moth. The bird is exiting the hole with the excreta from one of the chicks. Excreta are encased in a white membranous sac so the contents don’t fall out. Parents carry it far away from the nest so it doesn’t attract predators and keeps the nest somewhat clean.
Thanks, Sue. I am glad for the clarification. I have visions of birds eating worms all the time, but realize that can’t be the case. I’s fascinating to hear how they birds keep the nest clean.
I have tried birdwatching a few times. It’s hard.
You have to WAIT.
and WAIT.
and WAIT.
My mom feeds birds, so I have a permanent chair set up by her feeder in hopes that over the summer they will become accustomed to something being in that spot, and maybe lessen my waiting time.
You have proven that patience is rewarded- these are really cool shots.
Thanks. This is definitely a case where patience was rewarded, though there have been times when I have waited as long and come up virtually empty-handed. It’s one of the “joys” of photographing wildlife.