Baby Food

I've been watching the chickadees forage in our little pine trees and finally went to have a closer look today.  What I found was a pretty large infestation of Pine Sawfly larvae, an introduced species that feeds on pine tree needles.  Based on how many of these I've seen going through the door of the chickadee nest box, I'm not going to worry overly about them.  Additionally, I've seen the titmice and the wrens (House and Carolina) foraging in the same trees, so know that these larvae are a ready supply of food for my many nesting birds.  Let nature take care of it.  

These larvae are kind of interesting because if something passes closely to the branch where they are feeding they all wave back and forth from the branch as one.  I suspect it's a defensive move meant to deter predators, though it doesn't seem to be working particularly well.

I snuck a peek in the chickadee box again and found that the babies are just starting to grow some feathers.  At 7 days old, their eyes are still closed, although they will be open by day 10.  If you'd like a peek at cuteness click HERE.  I'll do one more nest check at 10 days - after that it will become too risky in terms of causing the babies to fledge prematurely.  They'll fledge around Day 16.

Things are progressing nicely with the bluebirds, too.  Loud peeps coming from the box now whenever a parent enters with food.  Very cute.  What I believe to be the second male wren is working on a nestbox about 40 feet from the bluebirds - he's filling it with sticks and singing mightily, and snacking on sawfly larvae in between.  You can see him here, skulking in the pine.

First Spicebush Swallowtail showed up in my garden today and headed straight for a big pot of lantana I'd just brought home.  Makes a lovely contrast against the bright flowers - have a look here.

Something happened in a big thicket at the edge of our property today - something must have threatened a nest and before you know it, catbirds, blue jays, chickadees and a brown thrasher were mobbing whatever it was.  The thicket is too overgrown for me to see into it, but I suspect a cat, snake or rodent of some sort probably went after a catbird nest.  It is very interesting when birds do this mobbing behavior and it's something I've only seen a couple of times before.  The sound definitely raises the hairs on the back of your neck.  

Tomorrow I'm off to meet up with my naturalist group for a walk and , hopefully, some warblers and dragons.  Temps are supposed to be in the 70's so it would be lovely for walking.  

Happy Thursday, people.
Debbi