Four eggs again

I saw both juncos in the bird bath so took the opportunity to snap another of the nest in better light. That one egg on the edge of the nest looks a bit precarious!

Four eggs

I feel like someone is messing with me.  I went to see if Mrs J was at home, and she wasn't, so I stuck my camera in the nest and...

Just like the last nest, there's one unspeckled egg!

A new nest.

The juncos have decided my back patio is no good.  We spotted them nesting in the little shrub out the front of our house, by the garage.  I took a closer look, and found the nest, which, 3 days ago, was empty.  I chanced another look this afternoon, and found...

Think that top left egg might be a cowbird's? It's a slightly different size, shape and colour :)

Ex-eggs

Sadly, this was the best shot I got of the two eggs previously laid in the junco nest.  The one on the left is less speckly - in my memory, it was entirely unspeckled. But of course, I could be mistaken.

Update, 15 minutes later...

Inspired by a continuing lack of nesting action, I took a closer look in the pot where the nest is, and lo, right beside it, I found the "blue" egg!  It's smaller and rounder than any of the other eggs, with a whiter section around one end - is it a dud?  I wonder if Katie of toughlittlebirds.com knows? :)  Do many junco nests have this kind of anomalous egg?  And did a cowbird kick it out of the nest before laying her own eggs?

If I remove the cowbird eggs, will the juncos come back and reclaim the nest?  It's at least 10 days since the eggs were laid, there's no chance of them being viable any more, right?

More junco photos

No news on the junco front.  Two eggs, no sitting.  Plenty of bathing, though.

Junco update

Still two speckled eggs when I checked this morning. There was a junco in the bath just now, and a pair of house finches showed up, maybe attracted by the splashing.  The other junco appeared out of nowhere and drove them away!  I think the patio is well and truly their territory.

I wonder when incubation will begin? I hope the weather stays mild, so the eggs aren't too hot or cold.

Junco madness!

I'm going crazy for dark-eyed juncos.  There's a pair nesting on the back patio, like they did last year.  I've also set up a birdbath (cough, old frisbee) and see them bathing daily.

I'm taking tons of photos, and probably getting my Facebook feed blocked from all my friends' timelines. Their loss!

Want some photos?  OK!

My only shot with Mr. and Mrs. I think that's the female on the right. I could be completely wrong, though :)

At first I just saw them (him? her?) bathing. I can't reliably tell sexes or individuals apart, so I don't know if it's just the same bird on a hygiene kick. I shot this through the screen door, so it's kind of weird lighting.

Preening after a bath. I love this photo :)

Patio furniture doubles as bird drying rack.

Then I saw them holding and carrying stuff!  NESTING stuff!

Leaf skeleton - cushiony and flexible.

Dead leaf. This is the position of the nest, in the same potted Nematanthus as last year's nest.  The new nest is close to the old one, but they don't seem to have disturbed it or taken nest material for their new construction - the remains of an unhatched egg are still in place.

Speaking of eggs, here's the first one!  I think this one did not survive, though - the next day it was accompanied by another unspeckled blue egg, possibly a cowbird's.  (Kicking myself that I didn't get a photo).  The day after, there was only one speckled egg again.  My theory was that both previous eggs had been removed/eaten/predated, and a new egg, the third, lain. Potential nest predators in my neighbourhood include raccoon, crows, skunks, ravens, scrub-jays, rats, etc.

I believe this is egg 3 and egg 4.  The nest is difficult to photograph, it can be in quite bright light, as above, or deep shade, as here.  I even had to take the zoom lens off my camera!

Potential nest parasite, brown-headed cowbird. 

So far so good! They don't seem to mind me snapping away at them, and a few times I've set up the camera on a tripod with a remote shutter to keep further out of their way.  If I go out on the patio while they're around, they chip and chip at me.  Stay tuned for updates!