Peek-A-Boo Bluebird and Sydney Anne

Sometimes nature just doesn't cooperate with my photography.

The bluebird nest box hole faces southeast and is almost always shaded. That's a very good thing for the bluebirds, but not for the photographer.

It's impossible to get a good picture of mom bluebird peeking out of the hole without popping a flash in her face, which I refuse to do.

We've come to a very fragile understanding that she doesn't have to fly out of the box everytime I walk by with the dogs. She pops up, peeks out the hole, and ducks back down in the nest until we're gone.

If you use your imagination, you can see her peeking out the hole at me. See that light shadowy spot? She's there, she really is.

When I monitored bluebird trails at work, we were taught to knock on the nest box before opening it to give the adult birds a chance to fly out. It's a good habit and I always do it, but with this peeking mom I know when she's in the box and when she's out.

As part of our fragile understanding, I never knock on the box - or open it - when I know she's on the nest.

When she was out the other day, I took the opportunity to get a picture of her five beautiful blue eggs.

Here's a picture of granddaughter Sydney Anne at two weeks.

She'll be four weeks old when I get to meet her in person next Tuesday. There couldn't be a better Mother's Day gift than a new granddaughter to love.