Thompkins Square Nest Cam Video! Black-chinned Hummingbirds, the Robber Nuthatch and a Miscellany

Photo courtesy of Francois Portmann

Thompkins Square Nest Video Highlights
by Francois Portmann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdG578C2FsA

And the Latest Photographs.
http://fotoportmann.com/birds/2014/05/rth-nestcam-tsp-v-nyc/

  5/15/2014
7:05:10 PM  Buster the Black-chinned Hummingbird is in the Magnolia which holds the feeder.

7:05:17 PM  I realize there is a female in the magnolia as well.  Interestingly Buster doesn't seem to care.  It is rather a wonder that hummingbirds ever copulate as they chase each other constantly and the female raises the young on her own.

7:06:18 PM   A second male Black-chin flies towards the feeder and Buster takes off after him.  ZOOM!  I of course miss the photo.  But they went over the fence and into the distance.

By the time I remember to look for the female, she too is gone.  This is very strange.  Three Black-chinned Hummingbirds in a place where there should be none. ???

7:07:50 PM  Buster is back.  Okay, it is possible that it is the other male but as he lands on one of Buster's favorite perches, I'm going with Buster for the moment.

7:08:17PM   And he also did the flit Buster tends to do to the next perch closer to the feeder.

7:10:01 PM  Then Buster nestles down onto his teeny feet.  The weather forecast is for an overnight low of 34F.  I worry for them.  

5/16/2014

1:23:40PM  Buster did not freeze last night, thank goodness. 

 

 7:01:08PM  For the last hour he has been on watch but he is also periodically....

7:02:25PM ...zipping over and having a long drink at the feeder, fueling up to keep warm, then he gets back to guard duty.

And the last few days haven't been just about black-chinned Hummingbirds.

                            The Jack in the Pulpit is up.

I noticed that a Nuthatch was zipping back and forth from a hole in this tree to a branch on another.

That's his tail end going into the hole where he disappeared for a few seconds.

Then he would come bombing back out as fast as he could travel...

...and then hatch the booty from the hole into the bark of an adjacent tree.  I do believe Nuthatch was appropriating someone else's stash.  

                   The Marsh Marigolds are in bloom.

                                As is the Bleeding Heart.

A pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks arrived over a week ago, traveling together and they appear to be staying.

Mr. Grosbeak always allows Mrs. Grosbeak to have the preferable Sunflower seed feeder.  For one thing she is less human habituated than he is, so when the Mrs. spies me she flies to the pine over there. 

(Sorry the pine looks so wiggley, the glass in this house is about 150 years old so it is wavey.)

One of the sparrows has found that if she chases Mrs. Grosbeak at these times, she can make her fly clear across the street. 

Just look at the sparrow's push off and focused  expression.

                       There is also a pair of Catbirds.

                        And a Thrush...Hermit perhaps?

               Goldfinch is showing off his Spring feathers.

The fruit trees are in bloom with their promise of sweetness to come.

And as of this evening, Buster is still showing no sign that he's  heading back to Texas.