Chicken Scratch: Bird Watching

Back in the spring I hung a bird house in our front shrub beds. It's a chicken one I picked up a few years ago and hung mainly for decor. But soon thereafter I saw a robin building a nest in it and Kaleigh and I were so excited! Unfortunately, around that time we were having bad storms and high winds, and one night I took the bird house down (along with the windchimes and hanging baskets) when a particularly bad storm came through. I think it disrupted the robin's nest-building process because s/he never came back.

A few weeks ago we noticed a little bird flying in and out. We started checking the nest again but couldn't see anything. Then this past weekend hubby and I were doing yardwork while Kaleigh was playing outside. She checked on the bird house and came running to the backyard shrieking, *There are baby birds in the nest! There are baby birds in the nest!* I came to look and sure enough 5 tiny baby birds were in the nest. As I was finishing up the yard work, I noticed two birds flying in and out of the bird house. It was the mom and dad, and they were feeding the babies. So I grabbed my camera and Kaleigh and I sat on the front porch and watched them. It was so neat! But those little birds were busy... in and out, in and out, feeding the babies. And fast, too! I had a hard time trying to photograph them. My bird know-it-all friend, Monica, identified them as bewick's wrens.

Mode: Manual
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/640
ISO: 400
Lens: EF70-210mm f/4
Focal Length: 210mm
Flash: no