We’ve been extremely fortunate to locate a pair of Eastern Yellow Robins. Try as we might last season, they eluded us time after time.  But this year, we’ve been able to locate them as she prepares for nesting.

Because of the way we work, birds that get visited regularly get names.  This pair is no exception and Karen and Jimmy they’ve been dubbed. We normally pick couples from classic literature, or tv series or some such like, but this pair were named as we were watching an ad and the very proper and correct voice-over blob, said, “Let us introduce Karen and Jimmy”, and we said. “That’s the names we’ll use”  Now for completeness I can’t even remember what the ad as about and haven’t seen it since.

When you spend a goodly amount of hours in the bush in one location, sometimes it’s wonderful weather and no birds, or great birds and hopeless light, and sometimes nothing much at all.

As Karen gets ready to nest, she needs to bulk up for the 3 weeks or so on the nest, and Jimmy helps feed her.  So a quivering bird on a branch and shrill chitter is a good pointer to a feeding moment.   The process is so quick, that, blink, and you miss it. As he torpedoes in, she takes the food, and he sprints away.

So as I was sitting in the open, I saw Karen fly in, begin the wing fluttering and thought. This is my chance,  National Geo for sure.
Then she moved to the other side of the tree!

All I get is a tail poking out.
He sweeps in, deposits the grub, and is gone.  All on the other side of the tree.

So enjoy my misfortune.

Hopefully there will more opportunities to follow.