Geese migrating northward, seeming to be cloud high. Kestrel chasing harrier. Swallows chasing insects. Parent dippers feeding open maws at nest hole. Vultures presumably lighter than air. Cowbird seeking easy mark. Pollen, pollen, pollen. Bees nosing into the blueberry blooms. Nearly every time I look above our house swifts circle and then speed toward some randomly chosen horizon. Spring knows not human woes and forward goes.
DIPPER NEST UPDATE
This was my first visit to the Baker Creek Dipper nest since the 21st. Both parents arrived shortly after I did, about 315PM. Each had a beak full of bughetti. I was under the bridge facing the nest about fifteen feet away across the creek. They flew through the bridge opening, scolding me melodically. They landed near one another and consulted. Then each made a fake attempt to deliver the food, landing on the same ledge that held the nest but about eight feet away. To reassure them I stayed crouched over, seated on an uncomfortable boulder just above the water line. Since their delivery feint brought no action from me, a suspicious animal to them, they began to deliver the food. I got a quick sequence of shots of delivery, then left them in peace, and prosperity I can only hope. The gray blur is the adult bird, nestling’s yellow gape clearly visible:
Feeding rush over:
The nestlings may stay in the nest up to 25 days after hatching, or leave after less than twenty. They were upright on the 21st of April so I will assume they were at least three days old as the adults needed only to fly to the entrance, not enter the nest even then. If they were born on the 18th, they could leave the nest as soon as May 6, or as late as May 13th. I will try to keep a watch.
The Dipper song is a marvelous version of wren song delivered with gusto, insistent and forte. When they sing their scolding notes the dippers always look right at me.
Adult with a beak full:
PRE-FEEDING GALLERY
Towheeblog 
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