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
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Mike Powell 
Heron and blackbird
Posted in Birds, commentary, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Ardea herodias, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, confrontation, Great Blue Heron, Huntley Meadows Park, interaction, red-winged blackbird, territoriality on June 8, 2013| 12 Comments »
Yesterday, I was observing a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) as he flew to a new location. As soon as the heron landed, a male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) started buzzing him, obviously feeling possessive of the territory. I captured this photo as the heron took off in search of a more peaceful fishing spot.
I love watching the interaction between different species, whether it be birds, reptiles, animals, or insects. Sometimes there is a kind of peaceful coexistence and sometimes, as was the case here, there is confrontation. Previously, I observed a group of blackbirds harassing a juvenile eagle, but this time the blackbird seemed to be alone.
One of my favorite bloggers, Sue of Back Yard Biology, did a wonderful posting recently on the Red-winged Blackbird’s sense of territoriality that is worth checking out. She called it “Angy Bird” and the post includes some cool photos that illustrate her main point.
I tend to think of blackbirds as aggressive and herons as peaceful and prone to avoid confrontation. Another one of my favorite bloggers, Phil Lanoue, who posts gorgeous shots of birds and alligators in his local marsh, has shown me, however, that Great Blue Herons will harass other birds and sometimes steal their catches, including this posting that he called “Stolen Treasure.”
Initially I was focused on catching this heron in the air, but I am glad that I kept my eyes and camera trained on the bird after he landed, for it turned out that the most exciting action was just starting.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
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