June 22, 12:35, male redstart senses females return
Female delivers a small load to small chicks
She settles in to brood
checking her brood
the male has a bite to feed the chicks
close but he doesn't settle in
he's looking them over
he does his share of fecal sac removal,
I wonder where he spends the winter.
he was leaning at full stretch in eagerness to feed and lost balance and had to extend wing to avoid full nest face, mostly
I think this fecal sac removal and I think I saw one of these parents at least just consuming the sac.
still had the tail stuffed in at auk ward angle
I guess the white is fine strands of Birch bark
She was alert to something
females settles in to brood
the male coming in to feed, seen from then ground, June 23 3:52.
June 24, 3:49
I came back in the afternoon, I could tell the redstarts were upset, they were scolding franticly for a while
I set there for a while though I have only circumstantial evidence I have a suspect in the case
This jay was stealthing around or trying to,
Maybe I was just sensitive as I thought that a jay had consumed this redstart nest and I myself had spent some time looking for warbler nests, but I watched a jay snooping around in the spruce birch woods full of warblers in late June and suspected it was hunting warbler nests itself, this did not leave me with a benevolent feeling towards jays, though I do love jays.
Thirty five years ago I planted oaks on Green's now the Bluejays harvest the acorns, maybe the oaks were not a great idea as they help sustain these warbler nestling eaters.
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