A couple of evenings ago, I was grilling on my patio when I noticed a male and female Summer Tanager fly up into an oak tree in my backyard.
While the male was stunning, it was the female that drew my attention.

She was carrying some grass in her beak so I knew immediately that she was building a nest. Happily this was one of the rare times I actually had my camera sitting next to me on my patio table (while cooking dinner nonetheless lol) so o dropped my spatula and picked up the Canon to see if I could get a few shots.
Incredibly she actually sat there for a few minutes before flying off into another tree right on my property line. I opened the lid of the grill (to make sure that my dinner wouldn’t burn) and walked over to the tree to see if I could find her.

Lo and behold, there she was sitting on her nest! Right there at nearly eye level!! I quickly backed up about 25 feet so it’s not to spook her and then pointed my camera lens into the leaves, towards the nest.

Their breeding habitat is open wooded areas, especially with oaks, across the southern United States which describes my yard perfectly. They usually build their cup shaped nest’s on a horizontal tree branch as this sweet little bird did.
Swipe to the next photo in the post to see the female with a beak full of grass and a quick shot of her peeking out from the leaves while on her nest!

Photo by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds