Yellow Warbler Protecting the Nest
Nesting Birds
From late Spring and into early Summer, our property is filled with birds, many of whom choose to nest on our property. A couple of years ago, I put up two nest boxes for barn swallows and every year since, we’ve had at least one pair, and some years two, where the swallows have used the boxes and raised their young.
This year, the box in the lower field has had a family of swallows, and so I went down our path and was trying to get some good images of the swallows. As I approached the box site, I was scolded rather loudly by the subject of my photo this week – a Yellow Warbler that took great exception to where I was standing just off the path trying to get pictures of the nest box. It turns out, the warblers have determined that the edge scrub of the lower field is a good place for their nest too! I backed out carefully but got this image of the protector on my retreat. In reading about warbler nesting preferences, it turns out they like hawthorn trees and raspberry/blackberry bushes, which as you can see in the image (hawthorn blooms) is just where I was walking.
I’ll go back down and see if I can find a place to take the swallow’s photograph with my camera, but I’ll have to approach from a different angle, so as not to disturb the other residents.
