Yellow Warbler mom on nest with hatchling

After I got the pic in yesterday's post, I left the area so I wouldn't delay the parents returning to feed the hatchling. Parent birds are often reluctant to return to a nest with a potential predator (they can only be concerned that humans are predators) in the vicinity. On my way back to my car I passed the nest again and found both the adult and hatchling together in the nest.

As these pics show, the Yellow Warbler is hunkered down in the nest with a very young hatchling asking to be fed. This is the mom since females do the brooding, this is a female. Since they usually lay 4-5 eggs, she is likely incubating several eggs. Again, I took my pics and got away from the nest so the hatchling can be fed without interruption by me.

The bottom pic shows what I shot with my digital camera on full 12 X (approx 430 mm on non-digital camera). I was 8-10 feet away from the nest (not right on top of it as the close-up appears). I am always as quiet as possible when I am near a nest so as to reduce disruption as much as possible. The top pic is the same as the bottom pic only enlarged by cropping to show details.

Ironically, this nest is locate at the Texas Creek BLM Recreation site in western Fremont County. This site has heavy ATV and dirt bike use which are destructive to bird (and other wildlife) habitat (and birders since it is important to hear birds call and sing, not easy with those machines that sound like lawnmowers amplified by megaphones). However, this Yellow Warbler was nesting in a tree near the Arkansas River in a location that is fortunately difficult for these loud machines to access.
SeEtta