Young birds

'Tis summer, and the fledglings are out and about.

First were the mockingbirds. They raise two, and around here and on south three, broods a summer, so their first group was out early compared to the others.Their fledglings leave the nest very early, several weeks before they can fly (instead of days); their father feeds them while their mother broods the next set. They have very speckledy breasts and short tails and wings, and often spend time in bushes.

Here's dad.

And here dad is looking very put upon and tired.

Young Northern cardinals are drab, usually with less red than adult females. Their bills are dark instead of orange.

Cooling off in 90°

Broody teenage boy - his bill is almost orange and he's almost all red.

These Carolina wrens nested in one of my hanging baskets. Here the parents are feeding peanut pieces to one of their offspring.

The drabber one is the juvenile, following one parent around looking for seeds.

This is a juvenile Eastern towhee, looking like the giant sparrow they are.

This is probably a female, being so brown...

... and this is probably her brother, getting his black wings and back.

Here is an adult Brown thrasher feeding a fledgling

A couple of Red-Bellied woodpeckers wait for a parent to feed them

And here's dad, with a beak full of suet for junior

This is a flock of Brown-headed cowbirds, mostly males but with four females and one advanced juvenile who's left his foster parents to join his own kind. That's him, at the bottom looking left.

Another (or maybe the same) cowbird, with a female cowbird ...

... and a chipmunk

And here he's following a female around the feeders.

American robins are thrushes, and the fledglings have a thrush's speckled breast before the orange comes in.