meals

Father-blackbird is one of the best mealhunters.
Everytime I see him with loads of creepy-crawly things in his beak
flying in the nest.

Meanwhile with beakfull he says... tjyk.thjik..thjik...thjock, (without anyone falling out)
Either he is telling me, that I am an intruder...so go away...
or it means: Here I am coming again...to his little ones.

5 babybirds

Of course I wanted to know if the other 2 eggs had hatched.
Again this morning, I waited till motherblackbird was gone out, for getting meals.
and I peeked in the nest.

Both eggs were gone and instead were 2 more tiny baby-blackbirds.
5 naked babybirds...such a lovely sight
and so fragile.

3 baby-blackbirds

This morning I saw father blackbird bringing a visit to the nest.
He peeked in the nest and went off.
I was wondering....

Shall I have a peek too?
I waited till mother had gone out...for a meal.
I peeked inside with my little camera,
held my breath...
ohhh!
3 little naked young babies in the nest...2 eggs waiting.
It is such a miracle how such little living creatures have come out a such a small egg.

blue bells & lillies of the valley

Pink and blue-ish flowers of blue-bells
mixed with lilly's of the valley under the shadow of some trees.
They give their delightful fragrance even on rainy days.

mating snails

As I was doing some weeding, in order to sow some seeds in my garden,
I found 2 snails glued to each other.

I once had seen, the mating of some snails on tv
but never realtime.
I liked the greenish bubbles.

flycatcher

While she is breeding on the eggs
He goes hunting for flies and other winged species
He now and than perches before the birdhouse...
Keeping watch over the house and singing some songs.

Funny cat

After her meal...having had more than enough,
Bibi tries to keep her food stored away for a while,
for having a little for later...

So she tries to bury it under the floor or under the doormat.
Its always fun seing her doing this.

snack

Everyday motherblackbird and sometimes father too,
go for a snack (oat flakes) in the birdfeeder.
When finished, she quickly goes back to her nest.

5 eggs

This morning I saw the motherblackbird was not in.
She had gone out for having her breakfast.

I took the chance to have a glimpse of her eggs.
There are 5 lovely blue/greenish speckled eggs in the nest!

I can't wait to see the little ones.

toad

An unexpected visitor crawled this afternoon over my doorstep.
He was rather slow...so both Tommy and Bibi sniffed him out.
He was on his way to the pond.
plunged into the water with a great splash.

blackbird

Blackbird's nest is so perfectly camouflaged in the ivy,
I love it to see how birds do this.
You won't notice it when passing by.
when I pass by, he presses himself very low...
meanwhile intense at the alert,
looking/watching whats going on, so it looks as if nobody is at home.
and of course I act as if he is not in.

flycatcher feeding her

Had n't seen the flycatchers for some days.
It is very quiet around the birdhouse,
so that you would think that they were all gone.

But nothing is further than the truth...
Breedingtime has started
so mostly you won't see them very often.

This morning however I saw the male
having a little something,
for her...

He is doing the shopping
so that she can do the breeding.

in hiding

In perfect hiding...
There she sits...motherblackbird,
for some days on her new nest.

grey flycatcher couple

To my surprise, I saw the grey flycatcher, (Muscicapa striata),(grauwe vliegenvanger)again in my garden.
This bird is a different specie than the black one (pied flycatcher) I wrote about.

This grey flycatcher also comes all the from Africa.
The grey ones arrive always a little later; beginning of May, that they come.
They catch flies like the best...like fast and swift acrobats in the air.
Also they breed in open nests..or an open birdhouse..as far as I know.
Many times they had a nest on top of a birdhouse under the gutter.
And it looks like they want their nest there again!
They were having inspection.

Though in the box breeds a bluetit..already having young
I hope this will not cause territorial problems

checking

About an hour later, I saw the male coming
going inside the house...having an inspection on the eggs.
after he came out...he started to sing.

Here you can clearly see the difference between the male and female's appearance.

another egg

Again this morning I saw her coming out of the birdhouse.
She sat for a quite a long time on the iron pole in front of the house.
resting...
so I had enough time to grabb my camera.
Through the lense, I saw she was panting
All of her body was breathing.

I must have been heavy work...laying another egg.

egg?

This morning I saw her again.
The male nowhere to be seen.

She entered the house...
She stayed inside for more than half an hour.

Did she lay her first egg?

(I wish I could have a small peek inside)

silence

A complete silence broke out
around the flycatchers nest.
I don't see, nor hear them anymore for some days.
Maybe also because of the buds on the beech, have exploded.
The new leaves are now more or less hiding the birds from sight.
Or are they gone on honeymoon?