Saturday, July 15, 2017

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.

mockingbird

mockingbird

mockingbird

mockingbird

mockingbird

Here's dad.
mockingbird

And here dad is looking very put upon and tired.

mockingbird

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

cardinal

cardinal

Cooling off in 90°
cardinal

cardinal

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

cardinal

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

wren

wren

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

wren

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

towhee

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

towhee

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

towhee

Here is an adult Brown thrasher feeding a fledgling

thrasher

thrasher

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

woodpecker

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

woodpecker

woodpecker

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.

cowbird

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

... and a chipmunk
cowbird

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

cowbird

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

robin

robin

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