Top Photo: Fledgling eastern phoebes huddle together as they await feeding from parent. Spring keeps chugging along, and with it the lives of many different creatures. Below are photos of some of our local residents rolling with the flow. A nestling blue-gray gnatcatcher waits for one of its parents to deliver protein. The lichen covered nest is in a maple tree on an island in our parking lot. It was spotted by sharp-eyed Ranger Dakota. Unlike gnatcatchers, brown-headed nuthatches nestRead more
Posts tagged: #gnatcatcher
Seasonal Firsts and other Exciting News
For the last month we’ve had a trio of mallards staying with us. Mallards are nothing unusual anywhere in North America but we haven’t attracted many here in our wetland over the past several years. The current trio, two drakes and a duck, have been foraging heavily. One day I noticed them intently digging and mucky around in the swamp across from the Main Wetlands Overlook, between the overlook and the Black Bear Compound. The mallards were probing the mud and leavesRead more
Gnatcatcher and the Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers usually arrive in the spring before the trees leaf-out and start building nests right away. The absence of leaves, and the fact that they are very vocal when building the nest, makes it fairly easy for people who want to find the nest to actually locate them. The birds are not very loud, but persistent in their squeaky, buzzy vocalizations. Even so, I often have trouble locating the nest of these little, gray bundles of energy here at theRead more