Was watching the bluebirds, the male had just arrived with a bug.
Drop off of bug at nest went smoothly, male shoots away from nest to a nearby tree, AND THEN...
...and then, the sky seemed to darken, and the male bluebird in a nearby tree began making a horrible noise, and suddenly this scrub jay pounced on the nest hole!!!!
Scrub Jay tries to reach into nest to access baby bluebirds....
Jay leaves, and his beak his empty, which is GOOD NEWS.
Traumatic event which all the birds understood! With the bluebird in a nearby tree was also another bird putting up a racket and jumping up and down during the scrub jay attack, I thought it must be the female bluebird but discovered afterwards, it was a finch that had just happened to be in that tree eating blossoms.
Here's the finch afterwards...looking stressed, especially after jumping all around!
Male bluebird in same tree as the finch, after the jay had pounced, still in shock!
Very close to the bluebirds, is the large pine tree with the Acorn Woodpecker nest. As I return to the house, I see for the first time this little head peering from the top of the large tree.
One of the newly fledged white-breasted nuthacthes In the early evening, a nuthatch family shows up at he feeders, they have three new fledglings with them!
SUET is what's for dinner! Adult nuthatch takes advantage of suet feeders to keep all his new family members fed!
(This is an upside down hanging suet feeder, to keep the jays and crows out, but which small birds like the nuthatches can easily navigate)