Counting your wagtails after they hatch…
You might remember that I have been a little distracted lately, with a Willy Wagtail family nesting in our laundry….
What do you mean I’ve hardly talked about anything else?
Enough from the peanut gallery!
Well, do you recall how I fixed up the falling nest with sticky tape?
And how Mrs Wagtail forgave me for impersonating Mother Nature, and managed to hatch an indeterminate number of baby Wagtails?
Did you think I would leave it there?
That I would wander past her nest multiple times daily (on my way to doing endless loads of laundry and battling clover and supervising septic tank emptying) without feeling the need to do my half-baked National Geographic impression?
Hah!
Then how do you think I managed to get this particular shot?
I’ll tell you how…since you asked:
I studiously ignored the laundry and the clover, and I placed a step ladder carefully beside my laundry tubs, gingerly climbed them holding a Nikon in one hand, and hanging onto whatever curious child happened to be close-by with the other. Then, quietly hissing at said child to Be Quiet and Be Still, I patiently waited for Mr or Mrs Wagtail to come back to their cobweb and horsehair nest.
Waiting…
Waiting…
I maybe got a bit bored and decided to try the focus range out on some cobwebs in the rafters between me and the nest …
Y’know, they are quite groovy… is it Halloween in America yet?
Shhhhh Dash… I think I see a shadow coming…
Ah hah!
Don’t move… she’s got a little somethin’ for her babies. But she can see us and isn’t really sure what to do. Fly away or feed her hungry little ones?
She decides to try and shield them from me… good plan. But not for me. How in the name of all that is Holy am I going to find out how many birds are in the nest?
I cannot rest until I know…
Patience don’t desert me now!
Patience don’t desert me now!
Dear me, there are two of the little chicks… gosh! Ummm. Not pretty.
Sorry Mrs Wagtail, I’m sure they are beautiful in a baby wagtail kinda way.
Sorry Mrs Wagtail, I’m sure they are beautiful in a baby wagtail kinda way.
Kinda.
Will you guys HOLD STILL while I focus and do a head count PLEASE?
One more time just to be sure…
Three little baby Wagtails!!
Wow… a cramped foot, a squirming child or two, a nervous Mama Wagtail and about 40 unusable blurry photos… all worth it.
Hey lil’ Wagtails…
now your Mama’s gone looking for more chick tucker…
I gotta say…
That is a face only a Mother could love…
Not being your Mother, I may have nightmares…
11 Comments
Leslie
My students are following this. We have an empty mynah nest on our Science table that the principal brought in to us.
Debby
Oooh. Bush Babe influencing the young minds of tomorrow.
Wait.
I said that like it was a good thing, didn’t I?
:^D
jeanie
Oh wow – they are so cute – in the meaning we were taught for the word cute. Remember? Ugly, but interesting.
Pencil Writer
Look out National Geographic . . . Bush Babe’s got the low-down on the wagtails in Granite Glen. Great photos. Love the spiderwebs. Looks like my laundry room behind the dryer, I’m thinking!
Great patience, by the way, BB. *see thumbs up sign*
Mikey
I think they are adorable!! How cool to have that to look at all the time.
OH, put something cushy and soft underneath, so if they fall out, it won’t kill them. You’re going to have fun when they start learning to fly, lol.
Wrensong Farm
Thanks BB for sticking to it to find out how many WW babies there were! National Geographic couldn’t have done better!! True, faces only a mother could love, but three of them!! Whooohoooo! 🙂
Jayne
Awww, how sweet!
Ugly but sweet 😉
Kate
I think he’s cute! In a very scaly sort of way but cute! Babies are just precious no matter what. Thank you for letting us share in this experience!
Bush Babe
Kate & Jayne – babies are precious, as LONG as they are cute! (I may not be the most MATERNAL person you ever came across!) Sure these ones are… well… interesting. When their eyes are open I'm sure they'll improve a bit. The sightless, head flopping around thing kinda freaks me a bit. I hope the stickytape hasn't stunted their development somehow!!
WF – I am horribly stubborn and prone to avoiding housework… staying up a ladder for half an hour with cramping insteps was a small price to pay!
Mikey – I might try that, but unfortunately they are over a concrete walkway to the laundry and bootrack. Anything soft there will simply trip a human – and the big male humans will undoubtedly grumble and kick away any landing mat. Fingers crossed the sticktape holds!
PW – patience and stubborness… very similar! Heh. Thanks.
Jeanie – yeah. I remember you saying that about a certain boy at school… am SURE you meant he was ugly. And very interesting!!! *wink*
Debby and Leslie – you lot have me worried! Influencing young minds… worries me enough that I influence my own kids!!! I may need to stick a "kid friendly" label on my posts so Leslie's students don't all fall off the rails!!! (Yeah… sure you meant it positively Deb. Sarcasm is so NOT a lost art!).
More on the baby WWTs soon folks. And thanks for the feedback – you guys like ugly. I can do that!
🙂
BB
M+B
Excellent pictures!!!
Wow I’m surprised Mrs Wagtail hasn’t hasn’t attacked you! They are well and truly swooping and pecking the dogs at our local doggie park!
I'm Julie
Love it – I was hoping you’d keep an eye on that nest!