Happy Holidays from Kenn & Kim

From "Home for the Holidays", Kenn & Kim write: Please accept some of our favorite nature photos as our gift to you this holiday season.

Blue-footed Booby feet




Clay-colored Sparrow




Sharp-shinned Hawk





Cardinal Flower




A tiny seed that looks like a ballerina




Connecticut Warbler

A lovely American Goldfinch nest

Pied-billed Grebe

Blackburnian Warbler

Blue Cohosh

IO Moth

Cape May Warbler

Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season ~ and always,

Kenn & Kim

Answers to the Birdly Abodes Quiz

From Home base in Oak Harbor, Kim writes: Thank you all for taking the bird nest quiz. The answers are revealed below each photo.

Nest Number One:

A couple people guessed, Rufous Hornero, and they were correct! This nest was photographed at Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It was pointed out to us by a guy I jokingly referred to as, "The Naked Naturalist." I wrote a blog post about this several months ago. If you missed the story the first time, here's a link to it. The Naked Naturalist

Nest Number Two: This one stumped everyone.
It's the remarkably beautiful nest of the Hermit Thrush.
The photo was taken at one of my all-time favorite places,
Hog Island Audubon Camp, off the coast of Maine.


Nest Number Three:
I used photoshop to take out the little "Strause Wren"
er,...House Wren, : ) as he left the pocket of this pair of
jeans hanging on a clothes line.
Here's the original photo, taken by Tim Daniel.

Nest Number Four: Okay, truth be told, I'm not 100% sure what this nest is, but I'm fairly certain it belongs to a Least Bittern(?) The eggs in the photo look pretty white, but they are actually tinged a very soft greenish blue. The photograph was taken deep within Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area while doing surveys for ODNR, and as we approached in the punt boat, a Least Bittern flushed from the exact spot.
BUT...there were also American Bitterns in the area. Any thoughts, now that you know the whole story?


Nest Number Five: Once again, Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area provided the setting,
and this photo of a Black Tern nest.


Nest Number Six: We banded several nestlings during our survey at Metzger Marsh that day. All baby birds are not exactly cute, but these tiny fuzzy Black Tern chicks were heartmeltingly adorable. I even heard a hard-core wildlife biologist say, "Awwww..." when we came up on this nest.
Gratuitous close-up of the adorable Black Tern nestlings


Nest Number Seven: Operating MAPS stations (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) can present researchers with battles with summer heat, bugs, thunderstorms, and smelly bird banders. My MAPS station, in Sandusky County, Northwest Ohio, tested the grit, determination, dedication, and intestinal fortitude of many a volunteer. What kept us coming back to this remote, deer fly / mosquito infested, insanely hot and humid wildlife area, year after year? The challenges paled to insignificance under the summer morning serenade of bird song, and discovering the lovely nest of the American Goldfinch.


Nest Number Eight:
Lined with the softest down on the planet, and cast in the shadows of a tangle of coastal plants, this Common Eider nest looked like a tiny piece of heaven to me. I was deeply moved by the discovery, and to this day I remember how touched my heart was to be there for that ever-so-brief moment,
looking into this beautiful nest.


Nest Number Nine:
Everyone who took the quiz got this one right! Some of you even pinpointed it to species. Hummingbird nests are the most amazing structures, aren't they?! This Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest was discovered by an Amish family in their yard in Central Ohio. It was in a maple tree, right along their sidewalk, and they had walked passed it day after day before one of them got "buzzed" by Mama as she left the nest, leading to the discovery.


Nest Number Ten:

As a volunteer Bald Eagle Nest Monitor for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, it was my duty to stare at masses of sticks, like the one shown above, through a spotting scope for hours on end, watching for a head, or a wing, or a butt, or ANYTHING to poke out, shift, move, or flutter, in or around the nest. I'm making it sound pretty boring. IT WAS! But I also got to witness some of the absolute coolest bird-related things I've ever seen. On the good days, I'd watch as the birds stood up, rolled the eggs, and waddled back down to incubate tiny potential National treasures; or the pair as they delicately exchanged places on the nest, as one relieved the other of incubating or brooding duties. I watched as adults shifted nervously as eggs hatched beneath them; fed shredded groundhog, fish, turtle, and all manner of dead things, to tiny babies whose massive bills made them look utterly ridiculous; and cried as "my babies" took their first short, but oh-so-brave, flights away from the nest.

I refer to Bald Eagles as "Every Day Birds." If I were to see a Bald Eagle every day for the rest of my life, I would never get tired of seeing them. They will always solicit that intake of breath, that silent, "Ohmygod, look at that," response.

Thanks for taking the quiz, and for sharing our love of birds.
~kimberly

Saturday Night Feeder

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: I don't like to brag, but one thing I can say for Kimberly and me -- we have some really awesome friends and neighbors.

For example, in our neighborhood there's a young lady named Delaney, an elementary school student with a sharp mind and a lot of artistic talent. Recently she has developed a strong interest in birds and other nature subjects, and she has been studying them and learning fast. As evidence of her powers of observation, a single Pine Siskin showed up in the neighborhood last month, and Delaney spotted it before Kim or I did. And her enthusiasm must be contagious, because her parents, John and Tiffanie, are now paying more attention to birds also.

We had had a number of conversations about birds with their family, and we had given them a couple of copies of our field guides, but we were stunned and thrilled recently when they knocked at the door and presented us with a beautiful, hand-made, personalized bird feeder that they had made just for us.

Here's another view of the feeder, hanging up outside and filled with seed, ready to attract birds.

Does the feeder work? Does it ever! We had just filled the feeder and put it up outside (and photographed it, of course), and come back inside the house, when we glanced out the winter and saw that an American Goldfinch was already checking it out:

Within a few minutes, the goldfinches were all over it. (Sorry about the picture quality -- I just grabbed the camera and the telephoto and was banging away at the feeder, through two panes of dirty window glass. These are documentation photos, not works of art like the feeder itself.)

Delaney and her family told us that they have started making bird feeders for other friends as well, so don't be surprised if you start seeing these elegant feeders popping up all over the place. And this talented family is pursuing an interest in birds beyond the backyard, too. Earlier today (Saturday February 19) I was out at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, looking at a distant eagle nest, and our neighbors pulled up to say hello. The whole family was out looking for birds on the refuge, and they had even brought along a couple of friends to enjoy the day.

Thanks to Delaney and Tiffanie and John for the beautiful bird feeder, and for sharing the excitement of birds with us!