Nesting and Mating – Page 31 – Feathered Photography

Ferruginous Hawk Chicks – Twelve Days Later

We arrived home from our latest foray into western Montana yesterday afternoon – earlier than planned due to uncooperative weather and (to some extent) birds. Those issues are just part of the game when you’re a bird photographer but I’m sure we’ll try again several more times this summer and early fall. We still had a great time, saw some wonderful new and wild country, reacquainted with an old friend (and met a new one who now lives in Alaska but graduated from the same Salt Lake City High School where I was a teacher for 18 years – small world!) and reveled as we always do in our time spent in Big Sky Country. And I did get a few shots that I like that I’ll be posting soon. This post is for documentary purposes only – no aesthetics involved. In a completely unplanned manner (long story) we ended up spending a few minutes at the Ferruginous Hawk nest that I posted about here from our last Montana trip. I thought some of you might like to see how the chicks are coming along. This is one of the images from that earlier post – taken on June 6, 2013. Here are the same birds 12 days later, June 18, 2003. As you can see, the kids are growing up – and quickly! We had no choice but to be there at mid-day so the birds are side lit by very harsh light but I still think the comparison between the two images gives the viewer a good idea of how much development occurs in…

Another Ferruginous Hawk Nest With Chicks

Last week I posted images of a Ferruginous Hawk nest with chicks in Montana. I actually photographed two of them. These chicks were slightly older than those in my first post.

Mountain Bluebirds Attending To Nesting Duties

On my recent Montana camping trip I was pleased to note that the good folks of Big Sky Country care deeply about their bluebirds. Nest boxes of every description and age seem to be abundant on both private and public land and along road corridors. Nesting season was in full swing, as were the traditional spats between Mountain Bluebirds and Tree Swallows for nesting rights to the boxes.

On these trips I can never resist photographing the bluebirds in particular as they perform their domestic duties.

Northern Flicker Surprise

A while later I glanced down at one of the holes again and noticed that it seemed to have disappeared or changed shape and color. Closer inspection revealed the reason for the change – the hole was now filled by a gorgeous Northern Flicker looking back at us with one big eye.

Black-billed Magpie Fledglings

I’ve been watching a Black-billed Magpie nest in a greasewood bush on Antelope Island all spring but the adults are very spooky and always fly off as I approach (the nest is very near a road and I stay in my vehicle on the road). But I’ve been looking forward to seeing the fledglings and I finally got a good look at all five of them last week.

Barn Owl Update

A few weeks ago I reported a Glimmer of Hope for our Barn Owls. It turns out I was overly optimistic and I felt like I should update the situation.

Male Osprey Landing At Nest

This is the nesting pair of Ospreys I photographed at Flaming Gorge, Utah two weeks ago today. The male was coming in for a landing to relieve the female on the eggs. The dark background was a deeply shaded mountain to contrast the bird that had a little more light on it.

Mating Rituals Of The American Avocet

The moment I pulled up on this small pond at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge last Friday I knew there’d be some opportunities for interesting behavioral shots. There were small groups of American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts that were excitedly chirping away and flying at each other in typical springtime behavior for these mixed flocks.

Amorous Avocets

Having witnessed the rituals of avocets mating many times before I knew what was about to happen when this female laid her bill down on the water’s surface and presented herself to the male. This time I got the shot. So often in the past they’ve had their backs to me when it happened.

Long-billed Curlew Courtship Behaviors

A week ago today, on 3/29/13, I photographed a pair of courting Long-billed Curlews on Antelope Island. For sexual ID purposes, notice that the female of this species (on the right in this first image) is larger than the male and has a significantly longer bill. It’s also been my observation that the male is darker and redder than the female but I don’t see that mentioned in the physical descriptions in the field guides and other sources that I’ve read.

One Red-tailed Hawk, Six Canada Geese and One Huge Commotion

Last week, Mia and I enjoyed our first camping/photo trip of the season. We explored some remote areas of northern Utah and even found some interesting birds. But the incident I’m reporting on here still has me a bit perplexed.

Flaming Gorge Osprey

The Osprey is a species that I’ve only had a handful of opportunities with but last spring I found a cooperative nesting pair at Flaming Gorge. In my mind this is a true miracle species because it has arisen Phoenix-like from the ashes of its own demise. During the 1950s-1970s their populations crashed dramatically, largely due to the effects of DDT and other persistent pesticides in the environment which caused severe eggshell-thinning and poor hatching success. But when those chemicals were banned the Osprey made a miraculous comeback and today their numbers are approaching historical highs. Part of the reason for that success has been the widespread use of artificial nesting sites. In some areas of North America, 90-95% of all nesting pairs choose these artificial sites over natural ones. The nest of this mated pair was on a pole installed for that purpose close to Flaming Gorge Reservoir. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, cloned out a piece of nest platform, not baited, set up or called in This is most likely the male of the pair (less conspicuous breast band) bringing a small fish in to the incubating female on the nest platform. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I believe this to be the female coming into the nest. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, canvas added, natural light, not baited, set up or called in When the male would bring its mate a fish…

Black-billed Magpies Constructing Their Nest

This post is largely about behavior. The image quality ranges from good to mediocre but I think each photo contributes something to a better understanding of magpies. Black-billed Magpies begin nest-building as early as January and these particular birds have been at it for several weeks now. Actually, in this case it’s more a “remodel” than it is “new construction” since this nest has been used for at least the last three years. All of these photos have been taken this week, which accounts for the relatively bright snow and ice background in some of the shots. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light One of the first things you may notice is the fact that sometimes these Black-billed Magpies don’t seem to have black bills. Part of nest construction involves mud gathering and the drying mud on the bill can significantly alter the appearance of the bill. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light Both sexes contribute to nest construction and they’re quite industrious in their efforts. The size of the twigs they bring in is often impressive. 1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light The nest is buried deep in a greasewood bush at about eye level for me. Typically a bird bringing in construction material will land on a nearby perch and look over the nest for a few moments – seeming to plan placement of the twig and an approach path through the myriad of vertical greasewood stems that present significant obstacles to proper placement of such an unwieldy…

Brood Patch In A Female Short-eared Owl

One of the primary functions of feathers is insulation and they’re very good at preventing heat loss. But this efficiency presents a problem – how to keep the egg(s) sufficiently warm during incubation, since feathers act as a barrier to heat transfer from parent to eggs. Typical bird body temperature is about 104 degrees F. and the ideal incubation temperature for their eggs is very close to normal human body temperature – 98.6 degrees F. That dilemma has been solved by most bird species through the evolution of the “brood patch” – an area of belly skin that loses its feathers near the end of the egg-laying period. As the feathers are lost, supplementary blood vessels engorge the skin of the “patch” so that hot blood is brought to the surface. Amazingly, the parent can even shut down blood flow to this region when that bird is off the nest. When the incubating parent returns to the eggs for incubation, he/she typically goes through settling movements that bring the brood patch into gentle contact with the eggs. The patch may be large or small, depending on a variety of factors including how many eggs are incubated. Some species have a single patch in the middle of the belly, others may have one each side or even three. Typically the patch is difficult to observe in wild birds, particularly in flight but I have several images of a female Short-eared Owl where it is visible. This female had two chicks that she was trying to keep warm during a typically cold Montana spring. The male…

The Mystery Of The Curlew Egg

A couple of days ago we spotted a far off Long-billed Curlew in flight with something in its bill. It was much too distant for decent photos but I was curious about what it was carrying so I scoped it with my 500mm. Even at that great distance it was obvious that the bird was carrying an egg. I actually fired off a couple of frames but the curlew was so far away that I just deleted those images when I got home. I wish I hadn’t now… I’ve seen and photographed birds carrying egg fragments from the nest after the hatching of their chicks multiple times but this seemed a little strange because it looked like an entire egg rather than just a fragment (which I didn’t think at all likely or even possible). Another thing that strikes me as unusual is the fact that this bird was several hundred feet in the air and flew a significant distance with the egg even though BNA Online says that when curlews dispose of eggshells they fly only “several meters” from the nest before alighting to drop the shell. We watched the bird fly and then eventually land on a gravel road where we were able to find the abandoned egg. Here you see it undisturbed as we found it. Now I’m no curlew expert but I’m going to speculate that this egg didn’t “hatch”. It doesn’t look like it has been pipped from the inside by the egg tooth of the chick and besides the hole in the egg simply has to…

Category: Nesting and Mating