Birds and Nature

This morning I birded the Canon City,CO Riverwalk for a bit and found this pair of Western Bluebirds in a field where they were foraging, often close to each other. I watched to see if they had a nest nearby as a pair had nested not far from this location last year. After almost 15 minutes I observed one then the other take off with food in it's bill, flying high up into a grove of trees presumably to feed nestlings in a natural nest hole there. I tried to find the nest site in this wooded area that has a lot of good nest holes in several trees but the area is being flooded with water. While I was watching I saw this long strand of apparent nylon line that was attached to a stick on the ground then sent about 80 feet up into a tall cottonwood where it was stuck--I guess it is some strong kite line. Most years a pair of Cooper's Hawks nests in this area and I didn't want to risk a young hawk not seeing it in time and injuring itself on this very strong line so I t...

Though I would like to have been there when the baby bluebirds fledged I had to leave. When I returned a few hours later they were gone from the nest. After some searching I found them in the nest tree and trees nearby. Now I had to leave my ‘car blind’ and take my Canon 60d dslr camera (it also shoots these HD video clips) on a tripod to a location where I could see the bird through the trees. I spotted the baby bluebirds with my binoculars which I find very important when photographing birds as they provide better visual acuity than does any camera/camcorder viewfinder I have used. I was amazed that two of these baby bluebirds that had fledged within the past 4 hours had managed to fly to a tree over 50 feet away. There were at least 4 and possibly 5 fledglings and they kept the parent birds very busy flying to different locations in 3 trees to feed them. The video below is a short clip showing one of the bluebird babies grooming itself from where it was perched in the crook of a...

I spotted this male Eastern Bluebird with the plump worm in it's beak as shown in bottom pic. I was surprised to find one at this time of year as we have only had Eastern Bluebirds in the winter and then usually only one or two small flocks that stayed for only a week or so. I watched this male fly to a tree snag, linger then fly away so I hunkered down in my car and waited until he returned. He first leaned into a hole in the snag as he was feeding that juicy worm to some apparent nestlings. I watched him for about 20 minutes as he brought more food to the nest, Then the female came out for awhile. After the female left this very devoted father went inside the nest cavity and brought out a fecal sac. The female returned with food once then I left as she showed some reluctance at the nest hole and I didn't want to interfere with her taking care of the nestlings. This is neat as this is the first breeding record for Eastern Phoebe in Fremont County,CO and only 11 pre...