A pair of Eastern kingbirds fledged this week in North Haverhill, NH. I
watched them Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and took a few pix.
Tuesday both were in the nest. Wednesday the larger of the two ventured out
of the nest to a nearby branch for a few minutes before making his way back
to his tree and eventually back into the nest. Thursday morning found both
of them on a well-lit branch about 15 feet from the nest. I had great views
of both parents bringing in bugs - mostly dragonflies - and a few berries.
Take a look, http://ianclark.com/critters/kingbirds.php 

 

 

There have been kingbirds nesting in this nest since I found it in 2012, the
first year I started getting serious about nature photography. On one of my
early trips, I'd seen one of the parents perched on several very promising
photo props. The next morning, I was back before dawn, shoved my kayak into
the brush and set up a nice 'fort' out of camo cloth and sat back to await
the kingbirds. One of the adults eventually showed up and landed right where
I wanted. After preening a bit, he? set to work nabbing dragonflies. After
he grabbed the third, he flew over and landed on the bow of my apparently
not very well hidden kayak. He looked me over, found me uninteresting and
went back to hunting. After he caught a few more dragonflies, he took one to
the nest, which is how I found it. After about the eighth or ninth flight to
catch bugs, he decided the bow of my boat wasn't a suitable perch. My head
provided a much better view, and he was comfortable coming and going from
there for much of the morning. I decided I probably didn't need to try to
hide from them anymore. Ever since, one of the adults will use my kayak as a
perch when I sitting in the area. I found one source that says the greatest
age recorded for kingbirds was 11+ years. I'm hopeful that I've been
watching the same parents all these years.

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________

Ian Clark
PO Box 51
West Newbury, VT 05085

 

(848) 702-0774

www.IanClark.com
www.UpperValleyPhotos.com
www.LeeClark.com