blackbird 2

The blackbird really made progress.
His new nest is almost ready.

grass

Near my pond is a beautiful grass.
This week it started to blossem.
delightful lovely flowers.

blackbird

This morning I saw a blackbirdlooking for a place to build a nest.
Both female and male checked out some possibilities.
I was hoping it would be on the birdhouse,
because that is right in front of my kitchenwindow...
giving me a perfect view on all what is goig on.

She choose the birdhouse.
I saw her picking straws , weeds and mosses...
putting them on the roof of the house.
Many times when she flew away...in her flight all the straws and things fell down again.
But after some twenty-something-more straws a kind of nest appeared,
including soft lovely feathers.

birds are great construction workers!

time out

Both have so now and then time out.
doing some preening...
some scratching...on itchy spots...

or just sit and rest.

teamwork

As I observed the flycatchers tasks.

She is the one who flies off and on with all the building materials.
storing them in the house...


The male is the one who is observing the work...
He, so now and then goes inside the house for viewing the progress.
or singing a song while she is gone.

too big

Some furniture seems a little too big,
for the small entrance of the house.

How does it go through?
After some more trying finally the leaf and the bird get inside.

beetle

I found a beetle in the grass
I never saw before.
First glance it looked like a ladybird,
Second glance..no definitely not.

Could n't find it in a book...but later I found I had not looked good enough.
It's a Endomychus coccineus , a false ladybird, (viervlekschimmelvreter).

bingo

Yes...!

She likes him,
even fell in love...

She likes to stay,
She loves the house...
She plans to arrange the house.
a little bit of moss, a few leaves, some weeds...nice and soft...

Meantime he is watching and looking carefully if everything goes okay.

There she is again

There she is again...
she looks more than interested...
as if she had been enjoying all his romantic songs..
and really liked them




She went for a look inside the house.

singing with all of his heart

He is like a real Romeo...singing out of all his heart
all of his might and with all of his being.

For some days I did not see her anymore,
But....

grass

In my grass lots of flowers are growing.
most of them are weeds,
but somehow I like the very elegant weeds in my garden.

ticking sound

Last couple of days I heard a ticking sound in my garden,
at first I could not figure out...what it was.

Then I remembered...
I slowly sneaked to the place where the sound came from.

Yes...!
A song thrush (zanglijster)...hammering a snail...!
hammering the house of the snail so long on the stones..till it breaks.
having his delicious snack...

butterfly out of cocoon

Last year I had collected some caterpillars of a Small White,(koolwitje) see post on caterpillars

They cocooned on a dish-stand in my kitchen...(because I wanted to watch them cocooning).
Later I put them outside nearby some other cocoons,
which I had found on a window-shutter outside.

This morning I thought to have a look at them, which I do so now and then.
To my surprise a butterfly(Small White) sat close to the cocoons..
The butterfly had crawled out of the cocoon through a very tiny small opening...to enter his new world.

stressful time

The flycatcher had another stressful morning today.
A car parked in front of my house, near his chosen birdhouse,
caused him some stressful moments.

I saw & heard him panic-attacking at himself again.
sitting on the mirror and on the window of the car.
staring at himself with a bold...courageous fierce glance in his eyes

Even Tommy and Bibi became very interested in him...
staring and looking for the right moment to interfere.
but that for other reasons...as if they don't get enough.