in Mei....in May....

 "In Mei leggen alle vogels een ei"

In May, all birds lay an egg... a Dutch saying about May... which rhymes in Dutch but not in English. But just as in Panama as in the Netherlands, it does work that way. All birds sing, too. May is always a busy time for the birds and high season for the insects as well... because they sing and mate with each other too. That means a lot of food for the birds, because they need protein.

It also means there is a lot of work for me in the garden and on the farm, because everything is growing fast. But I have to be very careful, because there are nests everywhere... on the ground, in clumps, in the trees. This morning I was transplanting some plants and putting them next to our creek, and immediately a "cocoa woodcreeper" was calling out behind me; it had a nest in a crevice in a tree. So for me, that means getting out of there quickly.

I’ve been scrolling through my photos from the past 2 months a bit and collected the cutest photos and videos. The winner of the cutest moment was in the Netherlands, in the Kennemerduinen. A Blue Tit was collecting nesting material there I will add them on my Youtube channel, because he is too long for Blogger.  But here is the picture:

Three times I have seen a nest that I had never seen before.

In our meadow, a nest of the "black-chested Jays." As with this type of bird, they are usually not the neatest nests; it survived, but when the immatures had fledged, the next day the nest fell apart with a bit of wind. It was also nice that the parents were being helped by another jay, probably one from a previous nest. I had seen them flying together for well over 3 months; I had a feeling.

The second nest was from a pair "buff rumped Warblers", never did see a nest of them, it was in the bank of the river on the ground on our farm and they were pretty upset when I passed by(singing and calling) I took a fast picture, but not a good one and walked very fast away... It was round , made from grass and the entrance was on the side. Went back 2 weeks later ..to take a better picture of the nest, the immatures fledged, the family was gone and the nest unfortunately flat and wet.

I always feel bad when I am in their space... as birdwatchers  we are indruders😐

Speaking of intruders... right now there is already a second nest in my plant hanger on the terrace; quite bold thick-billed Euphonias have taken them over... :)

I can even just water the plant, no problem!

Then the third nest that I had never seen before was at the Global Big Day on May 9th, and that was a nest of the Golden-browed Chlorophonia, never seen before; that was definitely one of the highlights of that day... I had to zoom in, because it was high up in a bare dead tree, so the light was a bit poor.

This was in the cloud forest at an altitude of 2020 meters.

Of course, I saw a lot more young ones and nests... here are some more photos.

A  just fledged Istmian Wren in Fortuna forest reserve

nest of a clay colored Thrush, next to our balcony.

And also in the Fortuna forest reserve a very cute just fledged scaly crested Pygmy-Tyrant.

When you see an adult ...they are already very tiny birds:

Did see two adults around the nest.

Only in case of the Chlorophonia...I did see only the female feeding, no males in the area.

Anyway, June will give more immatures and nests. I did hear this morning the blue ground Dove singing and also the ruddy Quail Doves are really very active.

I will update my youtube channel and you can check out more videos :)

Have a good month June!

Greetings Terry

https://www.youtube.com/@terryvanniekerktinamoucott7548