Eastern Phoebe babies

The Eastern Phoebe babies have grown very quickly and I imagine will soon be leaving the nest. I always freak out the parents when I photograph them...

Baby Eastern Phoebes

It's no wonder they grow so fast (although, at the same time still full of wonder). The parents catch bugs for them all day long. Here's another shot of the mom or dad (not sure how to distinguish them):

And this turned out to be an interesting shot as it started flying just as I took the photo:

Eastern Phoebe in flight

Backyard nature

Last weekend toward dusk the birds of the neighborhood were going nuts - they were definitely disturbed by something. That something turned out to be what we believe is a Barred Owl (thanks to my dad's keen observation for finding it)!

I was able to snap a few shots of it:

Barred Owl

I saw it again on Monday after noticing the birds were in a frenzy again.

And under our porch in the front yard, we have a Eastern Phoebe nest:

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Phoebe nest with babies.

I noticed today that the babies were popping their heads up and chirping ever so sweetly. I'm pretty sure we have another Eastern Phoebe nest in the backyard as well.