Homage to the Unknown
Exeter, California
2017
I took this shot because the scene reminded me of what I think is a fairly well-known photo by a well-known photographer, but I can’t for the life of me recall who that photographer is. I had thought it might be Edward Eggleston but failed to find any image like this of his.
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Captain Pike?
Exeter, California
2017
Captain Pike was the first thought that came to mind when I saw this. Anyone out there nerdy enough to know to what I’m referring to here?
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Empty Nest #10
Bozeman, Montana
2017
A wide shot, showing the entire structure of the nest from the last two photos. That it came from inside a bird house is evident in its tall, square shape. The bird house was originally built to attract mountain bluebirds but I do not think it has served anything but house wrens. The house wrens build this incredible tower of rough twigs to bring the floor up to the desired level relative to the opening in the bird house before building the final nest out of soft grass and feathers.
The wrens are also very tenacious builders. If they start building a nest somewhere we don’t want one, we will pull the starter twigs out and get rid of them but the wrens often just come back and start over. Last year they started building nests in the end of the loader frame on my tractor. I removed twigs several times in a couple of hours and finally had to stuff the opening with rags to make it unsuitable for a nest. They just moved to the other side of the frame and started there. Finally, on stuffing that opening with rags as well, they moved on somewhere else.
Note the third unhatched egg on the edge of the nest. There was actually a fourth egg right next to it, but it rolled off and broke on the driveway when I was carrying the nest to my shop to photograph it.
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Empty Nest #9
Bozeman, Montana
2017
A similar shot to yesterday’s, this one emphasizing the delicate feather lining of the nest.
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Empty Nest #8
Bozeman, Montana
2017
This is the time of year we start cleaning out our birdhouses as well as bird nests we find in various impromptu places around the house. Mostly we come across robin’s nests and those of house wrens. I don’t recall ever finding an old robin’s nest still with eggs still in it, but for whatever reason it is quite common with the house wrens even though they nest in more protected spaces. Although the breakage in the egg on the right in the photo appears to have occurred from the outside, on first glance it gives the impression that a chick was pecking its way out but never made it to freedom for whatever reason.
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