Showing posts with label bird nest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bird nest. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

distressed / confused


solo post - L, Nikon
(more accurate color here )

I'm distressed and confused that's why I've been sitting on this post for a couple of days. First I don't have good photos of this beautiful nest and second I don't have good information about why it was abandoned. But I wanted to go ahead and post about it because, thirdly, I have nothing else. (Taylor has been too busy with finals to contribute - school is out on May 7th - I can't believe another school year is behind her).
Anyway, I have been searching for some facts for this post of mine and think I have them and then find something else that makes me think I'm wrong. So if you have any ideas feel free to help me out with the puzzle.
I wish that I could say this photo was of a nest found in my backyard and that I am anxiously awaiting the hatching of tiny little birds. But my parents brought it home to me after being on vacation. It seems this nest had been abandoned so they brought it home to me knowing I would be in love with the beautiful eggs and fascinated by the nest. I was so excited about the beauty of the eggs and seeing the amazing nest, rich and plush with feathers of all kinds, grasses, fur, cigarette filters, etc but then holding the tiny eggs in my hand it wasn't long before I felt very sad. Sad that these little eggs were abandoned for some unknown reason or sad to think maybe the nest was disturbed prematurely. I went to work trying to find a reason why a nest would be abandoned. It's obvious one bird layed eggs in another's nest. Would that make the original owner of the nest leave? The cowbird is known for laying eggs in another bird's nest, never building a nest of their own. But i think usually the other mother bird will take care of them. I found photos of cowbird eggs and they are similar to the speckled ones here but I think larger than these... the blue eggs look like bluebird eggs but these are larger, almost the size of a Robin's egg... but the Robin egg photos I saw seem more pointed that the ones I have here... they are close to a Starling's egg... the little ones look very close to a photo I saw of a house sparrow... but does that make sense? I'm so confused! Do house sparrows lay eggs in another's nest? They are known to be very aggressive birds, especially for the bluebird population, and will evict bluebirds from their nest, many times aggressively killing adult birds. But I'm not sure they will actually lay eggs in another's nest. By the way, House Sparrows and Starlings are not native birds and are not protected by federal law and should be controlled.
I just can't take in any more information again tonight. It's an odd feeling I have that I don't know how to express. Please know that no one in my family would ever intentionally do harm to a bird, it's nest, the eggs, or babies.

Friday, April 3, 2009

fly / flight of fancy



Sorry for all of the bird photos lately, but I was excited yesterday when I saw that I had captured this bluebird in flight - heading to the new bird house my dad built. There are 5 other bluebird houses, all mounted at the specified height on trees in the back yard (it is said that bluebird houses should be mounted 5 ft off the ground) and I think this one is higher than that, but I guess the new construction is appealing - no previous tenant's mess to contend with.
Next I'll try to capture the cardinals. They usually build in my azalea bushes. Did you know cardinals mate for life? / work still in progress

p.s. When I saw T's pic for today I chose the bluebird photo that I took yesterday to put with it, so I have to admit, it wasn't truly synchronicity this time. - L

Thursday, March 19, 2009

nature's treasures


solo post - L Nikon D40x 200mm please click to see larger - it's an amazing nest

I really enjoy blogging - it didn't take long for me to fall in love with it because I have met so many inspirational, talented and amazing women here. Relyn is one of those women. She is one the most beautiful, sincere, and compassionate ladies I've ever met - a gifted school teacher, a loving wife and devoted mother. Please visit Relyn - you will feel so welcomed there with the soothing music playing and there will be a cup of tea waiting for you. I really felt honored to be invited to write a guest post on her blog. She asked me to write on a passion of mine so I chose to write about a passion T and I share together - Hunting for treasures.

2 weeks ago when T was home on spring break, we were doing a little spring cleaning and maintenance in the yard and found this beautiful bird's nest in our little red maple tree. This is one of the prettiest nests I've ever found - it's got several different types of feathers in it, delicate twisty twigs, pinestraw and some sort of strips of transparent plastic - almost like clear easter basket grass. I'm not sure where these strips came from but it adds sparkle to this home.

footnote

The photos on the left are taken by me, Leslye, the mother. The photos on the right are taken by my daughter, Taylor – unless otherwise noted. Comments are always welcome. thanks
If you care to visit, I, Leslye, have another blog - AutumnSun where I ramble around different paths and pleasures of my own.