Several weeks ago I realized that the straw sitting in my Brandywine tomato plant was actually the start of a nest. I’m fairly certain that the eggs that eventually appeared, and the bird sitting on them were boblink. This bird normally nests in meadows and fields (it is now quite rare due to disappearing nesting habitat). With the hayfield next door harvested, they needed a new spot. My thick “hedgerow” of tomato plants was ideal.
The bobolink chose the right plant, as this particular one was producing an unprecedented number of large tomatoes providing terrific camouflage. Brandywine was the first heirloom tomato I became familiar with when I started growing my own tomato plants from seeds many decades ago. Their fruit is usually quite large and the nest was eventually barely visible among the slowly ripening fruit.
Once the chicks had hatched and left the nest, it was safe for me to sit by the plant and try to capture this unusual scene (drawn fairly quickly on a hot, sunny day and finished later). I’m not sure if it’s a successful sketch, but it’s a better record than a quick photo.

Glad to see this sketch. That’s one prolific tomato plant! Glad the bobolinks fledged, too.
LikeLike
How utterly cool is this + the story with it!
On Tue., Sep. 7, 2021, 12:35 p.m. Everyday Sketches, wrote:
> Alison R. Hall posted: ” Several weeks ago I realized that the straw > sitting in my Brandywine tomato plant was actually the start of a nest. I’m > fairly certain that the eggs that eventually appeared, and the bird sitting > on them were boblink. This bird normally nests in meadows ” >
LikeLike
Great story. Great looking bird, too, once I looked it up.
LikeLike
Thanks Spyro! I was going to add a sketch of the bird, but… It has the most fabulous mating call in June. It sounds exactly like R2D2 from Star Wars. In fact, I would t be surprised if they took their inspiration from the bird.
LikeLike