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<\/p>\nA surprising attempt at nest thievery.<\/p>\n
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I photographed this Bullock’s Oriole nest in a Netleaf Hackberry bush three days ago in northern Utah. The woven, pensile (hanging down) nests of Bullock’s Orioles are pretty distinctive and there was a pair of orioles flitting around within the bush and in its general vicinity.<\/p>\n
Although I never got any decent photos of either oriole I did see the female oriole enter the nest at least once. With all the foliage surrounding the nest it was virtually impossible to get clear shots of the nest, much less of any birds entering it.<\/p>\n
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1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n There were also Western Kingbirds in and near the hackberry. This one had nesting material in her bill (only female kingbirds build nests) and she was perched on the edge of the same hackberry bush only a few feet away from the oriole nest. For obvious reasons I suspected the kingbirds also had a nest within the hackberry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Kingbirds are pretty quick but I somehow managed to capture her during takeoff.<\/p>\n I expected her to deliver the nesting material to her own nest somewhere within the hackberry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But instead I saw her entering the oriole nest with nesting material on two separate occasions – this is one of them. The top of the oriole nest (where the entrance would be) can be seen a couple of inches below her head. The kingbirds were quite active around the nest when the orioles weren’t there but at least once I saw both orioles chasing off one of the kingbirds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s an understatement to say I was surprised to see kingbirds with nesting material in their bills entering an active oriole nest, although there have been rare instances documented of kingbirds using abandoned Northern Oriole nests. Kingbird nests are open, cup-shaped and bulky – very different from the more delicate, woven and pendulous oriole nests.<\/p>\n There was a lot going on in and near this hackberry bush. I watched as a Long-tailed Weasel on the ground beneath the hackberry seemed to watch all the activity at the nest and then it climbed the bush in an apparent effort to get at the nest. But hackberry branches are so twisted and convoluted the weasel appeared to have difficulty figuring out how to get to the nest so it eventually gave up and went back to the ground, disappearing in the vegetation.<\/p>\n I never got a single photo of the weasel. Those little killers are furtive and quick!<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A surprising attempt at nest thievery.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/western-kingbird-2105-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-kingbird-2105-ron-dudley\\"")
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