rand1951
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 Blue-gray, Gnatcatcher, Nest & Brood. Day 4. May 11th | |
Took a friend who had never photographed a Prothonotary warblers nest where one was located, while there we noticed a lot of bird activity in a nearby tree, my friend saw a Blue-gray Gnatcatchers nest in the middle of a Black Willow tree that was surrounded by water. Fortunately there was a view through the tree about 1' circumference that changed with the wind and only about 20' away. We had a Birds Eye view and even could set up a tripod if desired for taking video. I was excited about possibly documenting this birds nesting and ended up going back 10 different times, We could tell the chicks were recently hatched because of how much skin we could see. This series will show the nest over a period of time and you can see how the chicks change. In the beginning there was a lot of feeding activity in the beginning, that slowly faded and nearing when the chicks fledged the parents spent more time nearby but not feeding. The female spent more time near the brood and the male(has the eyebrow) would often pass food the the female who would then feed a chick. The male would also feed the brood and usually done extremely quick, I was shooting 20fps and usually had to start photographing the male before getting to nest or I would miss it. There were 5 chicks in the brood, 3 lived to fledge, according to Cornell the this species will often reuse a nest to save energy and a fungus can form that can infect a chick.
This will be posted 1 day at a time.
Thanks for looking,
rand
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