It wasn’t what was delivered that was unexpected. It was how it was delivered.
Two days ago I revisited the nesting House Wren pair in the mountains that I posted photos of recently. Today’s photos were taken on that second visit.
In House Wrens the only contribution males usually make to building the nest is adding a few twigs at the very beginning of the process. The rest of nest building, including the construction of the soft lining of the nest cup, is the responsibility of the female. After all, only females incubate so she’s the one who has to sit in that cup for what must seem like an eternity.
For that reason I feel confident that this is the female of the pair. She’s about to deliver soft nesting material to their nest inside a rusty old pipe. It’s my best guess that this nesting material is a bundle of cottonwood ‘cotton’. That stuff seems to be almost everywhere these days.
Naturally I clipped a wing when she took off toward the nest.
This particular delivery was uneventful. I’m only including these first two photos to document what stage the nest building process was in and to explain why I’m confident that the wren delivering soft nesting material to the nest was the female.
A few minutes later the male was on top of the pipe right next to the entrance to the nest. He was here for quite a while, seeming to mind his own business as he preened a little, sang a little and just hung out. He was here for long enough for me to take far more photos of him than I probably should have. It was a calm and relaxing scene.
But suddenly I saw pandemonium through my viewfinder. At first I didn’t know what was going on – all I saw was a flurry of feathers and a bird or birds moving incredibly fast.
The following three photos are sequential over a time span of 3/10ths of a second.
The female had flown in with a beak-full of soft nesting material and displaced the male from his perch. He was so surprised he jumped straight backward and nearly fell off the pipe.
When the male jumped backward he jumped out of the range of my single active focus point for an instant so in this photo both birds are soft. But they’re sharp enough for the viewer to see what happened.
The male had to struggle to stay on the pipe. He was sliding down almost as fast as he was running up.
In fact he’d jumped so far back he had to use his wings to keep from falling off.
You’re probably wondering what the nesting material is. I did too so I zoomed in on one of my high resolution photos and I could clearly see the shaft and barbs of at least one feather – possibly a filoplume feather. I suspect the rest of the mass is mostly dark down feathers but it’s possible that it’s mammal fur.
The female turned toward the nest entrance at the end of the pipe as the male got the hell out of her way.
She soon disappeared in the pipe with her bundle of nesting material.
I can’t tell you how surprised I was by the arrival of the female and the resulting pandemonium in my viewfinder. I’m just glad that my instincts told me to lay on my shutter button and ask questions later.
Ron
Addendum:
In response to some of the comments below I’m including another version of photo #5. It’s a humongous crop but it allows us to clearly see what I strongly believe to be a feather which I’ve outlined in red. The shaft of the feather can be seen along with attached barbs. The rest of the mass may be dark down feathers or mammal fur. I’m just not sure.
Catching up! Great series! I love the the sharp image of the female with the male in the back out of focus.
A wonderful, wonderful series…both photos and story…👏
Thanks very much, Patty.
Looking at the closeup I gotta chime in again to express a bit of sympathy for hubby. If my wife snuck up on me and stuck that in my face I’d probably react similarly. Or worse.
Good point!
She looks proud of her find and seems to be showing it off to the guy falling off the pipe.
Maybe she was…
Well, I have to admit I do feel kinda sorry for the poor “doofus” male, happily singing away about his impending fatherhood, only to be interrupted and summarily dismissed by his never-too-much-softness-for-her mate! This is a really fascinating series … wonderful photos … and now I wanna see INSIDE that drain pipe! 😉
Chris, nest time I visit the nest I’ll try to get some photos looking inside the pipe, just for you. But it’s dark in there so I’ll have to do some creative photo processing to get much of anything to show up.
If anyone can do it (without disturbing nestlings, of course), it’s you! 👍
Don’t worry, I won’t be close, not shooting at 1120mm.
The other trick will be locking focus on the nest while shooting down the interior of the pipe. I’m actually looking forward to the challenge.
Incredible amazing series, thanks for sharing!
Charlotte Norton
Thank you, Charlotte.
Despite it being 3.00 am here I am late to the party. And in total agreement.
I am endlessly grateful for your behavioural series. Mega thanks.
Thanks, EC. You’re never too late for my parties. I’m just glad you show up.
More wonderful photographs telling a story about the lives of birds!
Yep, Mister Wren daydreaming. Mrs. Wren with “The Look” – get out of the way, there is work to do.
Thank you, Wally.
To me this looks more like a body down feather than a filoplume. I think I can see several long barbs. Filoplumes have a long barbless shaft with only a very few short barbs at the very tip. Most people are not aware of these feathers even when handling a bird. They are most concentrated around the neck and back of the head and along the wing. Movements, like air flow, move the shaft and sensory cells at the base of the feather are stimulated providing feedback information to the bird. Elongated or numerous barbs could interfere with this process and make it less effective than movement of a single shaft..
Great series. Once the young hatch these very active birds become even more active. I once read a paper in which the observer counted nearly 500 trips to the nest with food by the parents in a single day!
Dan, I wouldn’t dispute that it’s a contour feather. All I’m sure of is that it’s a feather.
500 trips in a single day! Exhausts me just to think if it. If I were a female wren I’m pretty sure I’d think twice about how many eggs I laid. Or consider deliberately breaking a few. 🙂
Visualize a cartoon where the character tries to run and just spins his legs! Everyone knows to keep away from a mama while she is nesting!! Fun and interesting post this am Ron. Agree with everyone’s comments! Lots of smiles happening around the world this morning.
“Visualize a cartoon where the character tries to run and just spins his legs”
Kathleen, with that male wren in my viewfinder I didn’t have to visualize it!
Ron,
Always a great story to go with great pictures!
Stephen
Thank you, Stephen.
Ha! I laughed out loud. Ditto what Marty said about you catching interesting behaviors & describing them in an interesting way. I love what Porcupine said about husbands/wives and shopping trips. Once again, delightful photos and I’m glad you kept going with the shutter. 🤣🤣
“I’m glad you kept going with the shutter.”
So am I, Kathryn. In the old days I’d probably have just sat there wondering what the hell was happening. Thankfully my instincts/reflexes know better now.
Your instincts were spot on. A fabulous and very amusing story in the series you captured. Behaviour shots like these are my favourites. It’s a great way to start my day and gives me courage to start plowing through the ton of pheasant fight shots I got yesterday in hopes that I might find some half that sharp. Thanks for the smiles.
😊✌👌👍
“Behaviour shots like these are my favourite”
I’m very glad to hear that, Pat. I share your preference but not everyone feels the same way.
P.S. It looks like ostrich feather!
The closest to ostrich we have in that valley is peacock. Not very close.
She certainly spooked him… reminds me of when i unexpectedly come upon a snake or spider or such. My body propels itself up and back, while i utter something ‘articulate’.
Yes, Ron, as others have said, you and your equipment bring us all into a whole world we never see or imagine. You’re a treasure.
Thank you very much, Nina.
In similar situations I’ll bet your “articulate” is about like mine.
Very entertaining post today. It’s good to see mom is “takin’ care of business”. Dad, on the other hand, looks like the stereotypical doofus in a sitcom.
“Dad, on the other hand, looks like the stereotypical doofus in a sitcom.”
Well said, Lyle.
That photo of the male leaping backward, looking startled, captures perfectly an experience shared by every married man on the planet at some point when his wife comes home from a shopping expedition!
Are you sure that is not rabbit fur? As an old fly tier I could swear that was rabbit fur.
Porcupine, no I’m not sure it isn’t at least part mammal fur. All I’m sure of is that there’s at least one feather in there.
Porcupine, please see the additional photo I’ve added as an addendum to my post.
Well I certainly can’t top any of the comments put forth by the others! 😃 Mr. Wren was properly chastised by ‘a woman on a mission!’ And Marty K said it all. Great series captured!
“Got it”! 🙂 Bet THAT “learned him” – ha! Looked like a hunk of hair off something to me but then what do I know? 😉 I’ve never seen more than the one bird in the nest area……
3 White Pelicans on the creek this morning – bit of a surprise particularly this early.
Judy, I’m not sure it isn’t partly mammal fur but I know there’s at least one feather in there. Perhaps it’s a mix of both.
When my wife is behaving like that you can bet I too quickly get out of the way. Great job staying with that action. I know from experience that often when something like that surprises me I tend to stop taking the photos and then realize what I missed. That material looks like it was stolen from somebody’s wig or toupee.
“That material looks like it was stolen from somebody’s wig or toupee”
Interesting and insightful observation, Everett. Now that you mention it I see what you mean.
“A woman on a mission!”
Yup. And a man in the way again…
“If you’re not going to help, at least get out of the way!” 😂
You are so good at photographing interesting behaviors — and describing them in an entertaining way. The “startle” shot (#4) is making me chuckle and the takeoff shot is beautiful, in spite of the clipped wing.
“You are so good at photographing interesting behaviors — and describing them in an entertaining way”
Thanks very much, Marty. That sentence means a lot to me. Those are two of my primary goals when I’m in the field and when I’m writing my posts.