Fly catcher

 I did not see the flycatcher for a while.

I began thinking that he might be caught by the neighbors cat. I saw the cat recently having a bird. 
Can't stand that. Anyway.
This morning the flycatcher sat on the fence. 
It was still early so that made it a bit difficult to get a good photo. 
He is checking nest boxes. 

Flycatcher

Here a female flycatcher is having her daily late afternoon bath.
Her young are almost ready to fly.

I see them (male and female) flying all day to and fro to the bird box.

I expect the young to be ready tomorrow or the day after.

Oh, and here is the male having a break for his bath, in between feeding the young.

 

Flycatchers

 The flycatchers have been inspecting several nest boxes. 

Here you see the female and the male do close inspection, to see if this is the one.

However I did not see them for several days around this nest box. It might be that they decided to pick another one.

Flycatcher

 There is lots of activity around the birdhouses.
The flycatcher is chasing away all the coal-tits and the blue-tits who also are looking and having inspection for a nesting place.
The flycatcher is constantly chasing them away, though there are enough birdhouses in my garden.
I pity the coal-tits and blue-tits and even wanted to interfere...But I thought that the birds can do that for themselves and let go.
It looked like that the female flycatcher has arrived as well, but not really sure.

I hope for him the get it all settled.

Flycatcher

Finally I got a photo of the female flycatcher. They have young now and soon ready to fly out. It was a great concern to me when I had seen the male flycatcher in April 4th.

I was hoping the female would arrive soon as well. The male was calling and calling, but she did not show up. After one month I finally saw her to my great relief. They don't fly together when they come all the way from Africa. I don't know why they don't. It would be a lot easier, as you ask me. But they didn't ask for my advice.

Finally when she arrived I really enjoyed it and I am sure the male enjoyed it even more. Now the young are almost ready. I hope I do get a glimpse of them as well.

Fly-catcher

First glimpse of the flycatcher.

He is a very territorial bird. Last few days he has been flying to and fro to different nest houses. 

He is chasing away other birds who come too close. He thinks he's boss. 

But in the window of my shed, he sees himself mirrored in the window. He thinks it's an intruder!

So he is fighting all day long his mirror reflection...!

So sad to see this bird attacking himself. Spending all his energy on needless attacking his reflection.

I tried to make a screen on the glass on the inside. but still there is a mirror-reflection.

Don't know what to do next. 

sigh! 10 times.

 

Flycatcher

The Flycatcher is feeling at home here. He is having a good bath after a long long flight!

Fly catcher

 Fly catcher having a great splash!

Fly catcher female

 Finally I got a glimpse of the female flycatcher.

Maybe she was here already some days or even a week or maybe longer. Who can tell?

I love to see her too...so the making of a new breed will start or has already begun!

Flycatchers are great birds to have around. 

Flycatcher young

Having been away for some days,
I was hoping I was back just before the flycatchers were ready for their flight.
However when arriving home, I noticed the flycatcher nestbox was empty.
On the wings...
When I was watering some plants i heard young baby bird cheeping.
Looking better I saw one sitting in the beech arch...
So I ran inside to get my camera. coming back the young had gone to some other place.
Inspecting the nearby trees, the young sat in the fir-tree so i was able to make just a few shots before he decided to go further.

Male flycatcher

Male flycatcher having a bath.

Female Flycatcher bathing

The female flycatcher is having a break from feeding baby flycatchers.
Enjoying a bath for refreshment.

Fly catcher

The flycatcher has reserved more than one nest boxes..
I see him tweeting and singing all the time.
Meanwhile he is defending at least 3 boxes.

Also when another bird comes too close, he is chasing them away ruthlessly.
He is quite a temperamentfull bird.

Pied Flycatcher Back!!!!

Having been away on a short trip,
I looked this morning out of my kitchen window, while making my morning coffee.
I suddenly noticed He's back!
The flycatcher is back!
All the way from Africa, he has found my place again.

Its so astounding that such a small bird is flying every year such a long distance.
I made a google search. from Holland to SouthAfrica, is 9.400 km.
And then at the end of summer they are flying back and even the young birds are flying so many miles...
Then when sitting with my coffee, I noticed that the female had arrived too!!!
Both inspecting the birdhouse, very near to my house...
So I have a perfect view on the nest making and in a while the whole breeding thing.

Here is a link to the other years when I noticed his coming