Survey with Jake

I stopped by the Salem Audubon Nature Reserve with my grandson Jake this morning to survey the ten nesting cavity logs that volunteers have installed. Jake has the week off from school because of teacher/parent conferences, and his mom is busy with the tax season, so Jeanette and I are filling in.  I try to check on the hoped-for-nesting sites at least once a week or more. Jake was quick to find all ten logs but we didn’t notice any activity at any of the sites.  We heard a couple of Crows at a distance and also a couple of Flickers, and then while standing at the last site we heard a bird song coming from a near-by tree.  Jake was quick to spot the source of the sound, and with the binoculars I recognized it as a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. We both got to see the red crown of the male, plus another bird we assume was the female. A couple of Bushtits suddenly appeard on the scence to add to the activity.  Jake is very handy with an iPod, so he was able to find the Ruby-crowned Kinglet in my iPod and play its song. It doesn't get much better than that for a grandpa.