Holding Onto Some Prime Real Estate

Earlier this week I put up some new bird feeders out at the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley. While I was out there I noticed that the Western Bluebirds were checking out the nesting boxes I’ve put up. Due to the lack of natural tree cavities for them to nest in these become prime real estate during nesting season for all cavity nesting birds. Tree Swallows, Bluebirds and a host of other birds start competing for them. I intended on using that to my advantage. This morning dawned with a cloudy but gorgeous sunrise over the Mendocino Mountain Range. There was quite a bit of moisture in the air that gave it that wonderful layered look. The Little Lake Valley was full of fog that really didn’t burn off until I made my way all the way out to the ranch. My photoblind there sits between the garden and the edge of the junk yard. There are two nesting boxes on fence posts really close to the blind. When I arrived I moved the blind so that it was about ten feet away from them. Within minutes after settling into the blind a male Western Bluebird came to stake his claim. He went in and out of the box several times and then perched right next to it. A Starling came by and chased him off but after several tries it realized the opening into it was too small and it left. The male returned and stayed around using perches all around the box and on top of it as well. At one point he went into the box and took out a feather. He held onto that feather for the longest time! I made quite a collection of images working until a little after ten when the light got way to bright to produce any nice images. Enjoy the images and God bless, chris