House Wrens feeding nestlings...

...House Wren babies! A sweet House Wren couple has taken up residence in our yard and is working tirelessly to feed their demanding brood of nestlings. Their nestbox is located in the plum tree in our side yard. We can hear their constant bubbly chatter throughout the house. Earlier in the season, I watched the male bringing little twigs to the nest box regularly and was hopeful a female would choose it as their abode (at the beginning of the nesting season male House Wrens build several nests hoping to catch a female's eye). After a while, I noticed two little House Wrens buzzing around, bringing nesting material to the nest box, and I kept my fingers crossed that the female would lay eggs and they would hatch out...and they did!
 

House Wrens feeding nestlings in their nestbox from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo.

A video of the House Wrens in our yard bringing insects and spiders home to the nestlings. Every time mama or papa would enter the nestbox, the babies would erupt in frantic chatter, "food, food!"

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
We love listening to their constant chatter and scolding. 

...the parents developed a flight pattern going to and from their "hunting grounds," which are a part of our yard I let go wild. Seems like there are easy "pickins" there, and the wrens preferred the weed patch to any other part of the yard. It's fun to watch them fly into the weed patch, glean an insect, and fly back using the same route to the nest box (calling out the whole time...).  

...such a fierce little House Wren!
Actually...House Wrens really are ferocious fighters. This little male successfully fought off repeated attempts of a House Sparrow to usurp the nestbox, and a little Carolina Chickadee had designs on the digs too, but the House Wren talked him out of it.  

I hope the little family survives their nestbox time. Raccoons are in our area, and they sometimes raid nestboxes. This one is well protected, hanging from a branch on a tree, but you never know with raccoons...

Update 
Our little wren family survived...the fledglings flew the coop and moved on to the big, wide world!

Mama and papa Robin feeding their nestling at Magee Marsh...

This sweet little bird has to be the most photographed American Robin on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. Her nest was located at eye level in the crook of a horizontal branch on a huge tree about ten feet from the boardwalk. She faithfully sat on the nest and was there every time I walked past. The robin's nest was so conspicuous that any person with a camera would stop to "oooooh" and "ahhhh" and then photograph her. She didn't care. She would sit and watch or close her eyes and doze. One afternoon in a light drizzle I stopped to photograph her. No one else was around, so I knew I could spend some time with her. As I focused in, I heard the chirp of another robin and watched her perk up. Suddenly her mate popped into view with yummy insects in his bill. I assumed he was delivering insects to feed the female, but she didn't eat. Instead, she got up, peered into the nest, and a little beak popped up...

An American Robin (Turdus migratorius) sitting on a nest at Magee Marsh. A gentle rain was falling and I could see the raindrops beading up on her feathers. I thought that would be interesting. Little did I know something more interesting would show up...

...suddenly, the male robin flew in with a tasty treat. 
(I am assuming this is the male because the color of his plumage was more vibrant that the female's.)

The male gave the female the insect--looks like some sort of damselfly!

...they both took turns feeding the baby (only one little bill popped up).

The female put the damselfly in the nestling's mouth.

...papa took a turn too.

"Do you have any more? The baby's still hungry..."

"You'd better hurry. Those insects aren't going to catch themselves..." 

The female returned to the nest, keeping the nestling warm.

...as I was leaving, I noticed I could see her head on--always one of my favorite angles. You have to love robins on nests! 

These photos are all from the week I spent looking for warblers at Magee Marsh in May for the  Biggest Week in American Birding festival.

Note: Magee Marsh is one of the sites on the Nature Conservancy's Natural Treasures of Ohio sweepstakes (May 22 - August 8). You can enter to win a Honda Insight Hybrid after visiting Magee Marsh! Click here for details on how to win the car.

(These photos are classic "robin sitting on a nest" shots. They are great references for artists. If you're an artist, feel free to use them for inspiration.)

A mama Great Horned Owl feeding her baby...

This afternoon Rick and I headed over to Lake Isabella to check in on the nesting owls. I was hoping to get a glimpse of the baby who has already started popping its head out of the nest. When we arrived, the park attendant told us another egg had hatched and there were now two owlets being tended to by the parents! We walked over to the viewing area to see if the baby was awake. Soon the mama picked something up in the nest and turned toward us. It looked like dinner was about to be served...

A female Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) owl lifted a half-eaten bird out of the nest for her owlet...

...within seconds the baby popped up, ready for dinner! Look at that little one's mouth open up wide.

Only one of the two owlets popped up for dinner. If the other was eating, it was not visible from our angle.

...maybe the mama was feeding the other owlet here.

...sated, the baby soon closed its eyes and slipped back down in the nest to sleep.

...but before nodding off, the owlet stretched its little wings, giving us a glimpse of the feathers just beginning to emerge from the cylindrical feather sheaths.

Owls do not build their own nests. Instead, they take over nests built by hawks, herons, crows, or even squirrels. They also will nest in hollowed-out tree cavities that are large enough, and will even take advantage of man-made platforms and other types of nests, such as this old metal tub. This tub has been at Lake Isabella for a long time and has hosted many owl families over the years!

(It was nice having Rick along with me. If he's not careful, he might lose his old blog name of Rick the Reluctant Birder!)

Dinner is served...

A Northern Cardinal offers a plump, juicy, spring-green caterpillar...

...no matter how he's dishing it up, I pass!

I think this is the same Northern Cardinal that's in the peek-a-boo cardinal post. I found him on the same day, just up the the trail a few hundred feet. The dark splotches on his bill seem to match up perfectly with the other Red. He was taking dinner to a nest, no doubt, because he never ate his mouthful of green, but I didn't hang around to find out. I think he was holding off going to the nest so he wouldn't divulge its location. I didn't want the babies to go hungry, so I quickly moved on and left him to his delivery.

Black-crowned Night Heron feeding a juvenile

Birding Hilton Head Island, SC and Pinckney Island at the Ibis Pond Rookery

...continued from the Tricolored Heron post.

The Black-crowned Night Heron has always been a favorite of mine (the night owl thing and all...), so I was especially happy when I saw the adult feeding the juvenile. Last year I saw a few adults, but no nests...and no young, but this year I saw at least eight adults and three juveniles (and this in the middle of the day!). Unlike the Tricolored Herons from the earlier posts, the Black-crowned Night Herons were nesting in the rookery proper across the mote, so viewing wasn't quite as close, but this juvenile had climbed out of its nest and into the open. As I was walking I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye as the baby flapped his wings, begging for food.

Begging...

Feeding...

Satisfied for three seconds...

Begging...

Running to the store for more food...

The store is far away...

"I'm soooooo alone..."

"Are you my mother?"

Oh my gosh...this was the coolest thing to witness. Our little Black-crowned Night Heron tried so hard to get the White Ibis to feed him, but the poor ibis had no idea what to do. You could just feel "of all the limbs to land on, I had to pick this one..." was going through his head. Soon enough he flew off, much to the juvenile's protestations! When reviewing the photos later, I laughed out loud when I saw the size of that baby's maw!

p.s. I was just over at the new BirdingBlogs.com, and Dawn featured me as her first Bird Blogger of the Week. Click here to check out the new blog.

Snowy Egret feeding nestlings...

Birding Hilton Head Island, SC and Pinckney Island at the Ibis Pond Rookery

...continued from the Tricolored Heron takes a walk post.

Even though I try, I can't begin to describe the energy and wonder of the Ibis Pond rookery at the height of the nesting season. There are so many birds and so much action it's hard to decide where to point the camera. Noise is varied and nonstop, sometimes slipping into a state that can only be described as a cacophony, and when you mix in the pungent aroma of regurgitated fish guts spiking here and there as you walk around the mote...with the never ending beauty and variety of birds at every glance, it can actually start to feel like an assault on the senses (but it's a good assault that keeps you coming back for more)!

As the Tricolored Herons from an earlier post were learning to fly in the trees in front of me, to the left, in the trees growing along the mote (again, on our side!), several parents in a mini colony of Little Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets were busy feeding their young while others sat patiently on eggs. Here a Snowy Egret tends to nestlings.

...you can see how the baby's gular pouch has expanded to hold the food.

...and I think we have a glimpse of regurgitated fish guts here--sort of greenish grey. Yum. Just what the baby needs to get big and strong!

...the sun did a beautiful job highlighting the baby's gular pouch. Kind of cool...it was the first time I had ever seen the sun shine through the tiny pouch.

It looks like baby#2 has given up, but he's just resting. He was fed first!

These photos are from June 7, 2010. The rookery was not as far along as the same week last year, but there seemed to be more herons and egrets. It was strange that they had crossed over the mote and were nesting on our side. Not many people were visiting the rookery while I was there. It was hot...really hot...like 100 degrees F hot, so that might have kept people away, but those that did visit were respectful of the nesting birds and kept back. That was good to see. The rookery wasn't quite as pungent or noisy this year either, but I assume a week or so after I left, the noise increased, and as more and more babies hatched out, so too the wonderful smells!

To see cool birds from all over the world, visit Bird Photography Weekly.