Things are keeping me close to home this season so I am wringing what I can out of the local patches. If you've not been, Leach Botanical Garden can be very enchanting. While I have enjoyed familiarizing myself with the grounds, and getting acquainted with the friendly staff, I have also been very disappointed by the failure/abandonment of three nests there.  The first, an Anna's Hummingbird nest, then the well known Cooper's Hawk nest, and finally the Pacific-slope Flycatcher that chose to build its nest a few of feet above a narrow, heavily trafficked walkway. Yesterday, I believe, she finally had enough of the commotion and left her nest for good, leaving behind four perfectly good unhatched eggs. I've gone from being excited about possibly sharing three (nearly) simultaneous nestling/fledgling stories all in proximity to each other, to (frankly) feeling a bit depressed and thinking I should just shelve my photos of the place. I woke up today somewhere between those two extremes and decided that I should finish what I started.

We hope you enjoy the photos:

Cooper's Hawk burrowing in - adjusting the position of the eggs before settling down:

Cooper's Hawk (male) bringing prey to a handoff point:

Female Cooper's Hawk wondering what's taking so long. . . 

and not being afraid to say so :-)

Nest abandoned approximately three weeks later - wind damage is the suspected cause:

Anna's Hummingbird:

Red-breasted Sapsucker:

Stone Cabin built in 1932 by John and Lilla Leach.

They spent their summers here until the house (Sleepy Hollow) was finished in 1936:

Chestnut-backed Chickadee:

Pacific-slope Fycatcher:

Northern Flicker:

Dark-eyed Junco:

Song Sparrow:

Red-breasted Nuthatch:

Black-capped Chickadee:

Leach Botanical Garden Historical Timeline

Special thanks to David Porter, Executive Director, for always welcoming me regardless of how busy he was; Scott Hoelscher, Head Gardner, for encouraging me to photograph the garden; Kathleen Kennedy, Caretaker, for keeping me honest about observing the garden's hours of operation and for all of our conversations about the birds of the area; and Stephanie Marson, Development & Administrative Assistant for her observations of the Pacific-slope Flycatcher nest and for sharing the location of the Indian Pipe with me.