Chicks fly the nest.

More baby birds leaving the nest every day around here. This baby blackbird was one of two on our front lawn just before Christmas. Unable to fly, they sit and cheep til Mum comes and pokes a worm down their beaks. Because they can't fly some people think they need saving and pick them up at this age. Its best to leave them to their Mums....& Dads? ActuallyI'm not sure if Papa blackbird helps out when they are this old. Different species have different rules when it comes to child support.

This was the adult goldfinch feeding the babies outside our front door. At this stage I thought there were three babies. With this family both parents helped out. The juniors are kinda funny looking here I must admit and very demanding! They get better looking with age.

I took this two days before Xmas. I was heading off to Tauranga to spend Xmas at my sisters and saw the babies that morning preening themselves and flapping their wings. I was sure they were heading off that same day and what do ya know there were FIVE of the little buggers! It was getting very squashed in that nest. When we got home day after Xmas the nest was empty. No sign of the lovely bright yellow on them yet. I guess they need to be camouflaged til they become independent.

Widdle birrrds

Along the Whakatane Riverbank between the yacht club and the skate bowl there is a short boardwalk to the frog pond. I have visited three mornings in a row and been rewarded with some nice shots of small birds, finches, sparrows and fantails feeding and collecting nesting material among the reeds and toi toi that grows there. Its lovely on a sunny day. Once the homeless degenerates that sleep under the boardwalk have cleared out its a nice place to sit and be serenaded by the frogs and trilling & cheeping finches.

This little guy is a male greenfinch singing his little heart out to impress a chick. It works and his girlfriend turns up but...typical female is very demanding and wants him to feed her. (I can relate to that.) Its all part of the courtship thing - she needs to know he will be a good provider for their chicks plus it supplies her with the extra nutrition needed to lay the eggs etc.

This male sparrow is collecting toi toi fibres for nesting material.

A pair of goldfinches land in the bullrushes and one targets the web from a nursery spiders nest. The finch collected a beakful, flew off to wherever its nest was, then returned twice til the web was all gone. It then found another web and repeated the excercise.

What a cutie! And finally, one of my favourites - a fantail catches bugs on the wing without fear of my long lens. At time he is too close to focus on! What a great start to the day.