Tara Tanaka - Vermilion Flycatcher Pair Builds A Very Special Nest!

Tara Tanaka spent a week in Texas in May digiscoping birds, and she spent every minute of the best light with this pair of Vermilion Flycatchers. At first she was just shooting photos and video of the male, and after spending hours with him and watching him interact occasionally with the female, Tara realized that she was building a nest not far away. It looks like she was right on top of the nest when she was videoing it, but she was using a digiscoping system with an equivalent focal length of 1000mm, and was far enough away to not cause her any stress. First she used twigs, then lichen, and finally Tara watched in amazement as she brought back spider webs and used them to anchor everything in place. Tara heard from other birders that this pair had just fledged two juveniles, so this was their second nest of the season. Tara left a day earlier than planned as there were really bad storms headed her way, and she got out just ahead of the violent weather and barely managed to stay ahead of it all the way home. Tara emailed the campground host and found out that late on the day she left they were hit with a terrible storm and there were two trees and numerous branches down in the park. The branch she chose for her nest was as protected as it could possibly have been, so we all have hope that it survived the storm. This video was shot with a GH4 mounted on a Swarovski STX 85 scope with a Digidapter using manual focus. Best viewed full screen in 4K, sound up!