Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Kristin's hand

Friend, Sue, very kindly invited me to go along with her a few days ago when she did her Mountain Bluebird route just west of the city. The majority of the boxes had Tree Swallows nesting in them, but some were occupied by Bluebirds. A few boxes were completely empty, some had a nest, some had a nest with eggs, some had a nest with a tight little pile of babies, and a couple had an adult Tree Swallow along with the eggs. And one box contained a nest of House Sparrow eggs, which are cream, white, gray or greenish, with irregular brown speckles. This one was being held by Kristin. It takes quite a bit of time to check and record all these boxes, and I respect all those who volunteer to have a route of their own. The House Sparrow nest was removed from the box as Mountain Bluebirds need as much human help as possible in order to protect their numbers.

Isn't this baby Mountain Bluebird just the cutest little thing? It's only one or two days old and has these most amazing hair-like feathers. The sun was gleaming through these fine hairs - not sure why the background is black but it does show off all the silver down. Yesterday evening, I went with a gentleman who has had a Bluebird nesting box route for something like 25 years, recording and banding the various birds he finds. These include Tree Swallows, too. Apparently, in all these years, this gentleman has never known a mother to abandon her babies after they have been picked up and banded. The Mountain Bluebird population was dropping drastically but, thanks to this nesting box program, their numbers are increasing again. By the way, this is not MY hand! This is the third year in a row that I have gone on this short drive south of the city and I enjoy it every time. Actually, this time, there was an added bonus - we were shown a flying squirrel that has taken over a nesting box.