Feathered Friday - This Week's Finds

Here are a few sightings of the week for this #featheredfriday by @melinda010100

I found a goldfinch nest. I'll have to keep an eye for when these little guys hatch.

I waited around a bit to see if the male would return to the nest to feed both the mother and any hatched babies. Eventually the mom took a break from sitting on the eggs and I thought I had lined up a good shot but the leaves got in the way.

As usual house sparrows are sitting on the trees next to the lake. They are always a reliable subject to photograph similar to robins.

Now for a bit more of a rare sparrow. This appears to be a juvenile chipping sparrow. The red crown is the identifying factor, its feathers look like they are still growing in.

Here's another juvenile. This nuthatch seems to still be growing a few more feathers, also it was a bit more tame than a fully grown nuthatch.

Here are some more juveniles. These are barn swallows waiting for their parents to catch insects for them. Hopefully they are learning by watching as they are old enough to fly but probably a bit too clumsy to catch insects yet.

Here is an Eastern Kingbird. I tried getting shots of it catching large flies mid-air but it was overcast on this day and my autofocus messed up. They make it look so effortless catching insects mid-air.

I heard a familiar wounded bird sound and saw some killdeer.

Here is one feigning a wounded wing to distract possible predators from spotting their nest on the ground. I couldn't quite find where their nest was, I'll have to check back here to see if there's any babies hatched next week. They follow the parents around and look like little cotton balls with stick legs.

Hopefully their nest won't get mowed by a lawnmower as this was taken out in a field. They would have been better off nesting in wild prairie lands.

That's all for now, thanks for looking :-)