Eastern kingbird
Eastern kingbird keeping a wary eye on us as we passed by its nesting site in a shrub next to the Rideau River, July 1, 2013.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Tag Archives: nest
Trio of male brown-headed cowbirds
Three male brown-headed cowbirds perched in the treetops next to the Rideau River, June 30, 2013. The brown-headed cowbird is unusual in that it practices nest parasitism. Cowbirds do not rear their own young. The female lays an egg in another bird’s nest and the cowbird chick hatches and is reared by the other birds. It pushes the chicks of the host birds out of the nest so it does not compete for food. Some species of songbird have adapted to this threat in building dummy nests to lure the cowbird to leave its eggs, leaving them free to rear their own broods.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Female red-winged blackbird on her nest in the reeds at the edge of a pond next to the Rideau River, May 18, 2013.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey.
Bachelor drakes hanging out together on a pond next to the Rideau River May 16, 2013. Their work is done, the hens they bred are incubating clutches of eggs and will be raising the broods of ducklings on their own.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey.
Red-winged blackbird nest
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Red-winged blackbird nest in the cattails in a pond next to the Rideau River, May 2, 2013. I will keep an eye on this nest over the next several weeks, from a safe distance, to see how the blackbirds make out in their effort to raise a brood of chicks.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Geoffrey & Mika 