young blackbird showing epaulets

This young male Red-winged Blackbird was begging his mom to give him food from the seed feeder. I can tell he is a male because he's already starting to get his bright colored 'epaulets' on his shoulders.  She has been putting food in his mouth whenever he gapes since he hatched out of his egg.  But now that she is hoping he will find his own food!

blackbird juvenile

Red-winged Blackbirds have terrorized the pond and wetland by defending their nest area from all other birds.  Now that the young blackbirds learned to fly, the parents are teaching them to hunt on their own.  But this juvenile prefers to terrorize his dad . . .   by gaping and squawking for an easy meal. Blackbirds!!

The huge nest near the pond is still home to the Bald Eagle family.  The young are learning to fly, initially from branch to branch, until they can fly beyond the tree. Then their intensive hunting lessons start.  For now, they may return to the tree overnight.

Young Bald Eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus do not display white feathers until they are a few years old. Meanwhile, they are mottled brown like this young one hatched this Spring.

Blackbird fledglings

Hiding in the reeds, unsure of what to do next, these three young Red-winged Blackbirds are waiting for instructions from a parent.  They fledged from their nest today, and flew a short distance. They hatched only 10 days ago (see post on 6/10/2020), then grew and developed to almost their adult size.  The mom will feed them and teach them to find food on their own for the next few weeks.  Seeds are most of their diet year-round, but for summer they will learn to hunt insects hiding among plants surrounding the pond.  Later, once each develops agile flight, they will catch flying insects mid-air.

Mallard chicks

A pair of Mallards showed up with ducklings on the pond.  There were only six ducklings today, and they looked older than the brood of eleven  that we saw on May 15.  We can't know if this is the same or a different brood, but it seems like the young here are appropriately more mature.  The bills are longer and their feathers seem smoother than the ducklings we saw before.   (right: closeup of one of the 6)

eagle nest

The eagle nest near the pond is surrounded by more leaves each day.  The tree is healthy and shelters the Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus family well.  The strong forked branches are big enough to support the huge nest that has been here several years.  Surrounding their tree, the eagles have fields and several wetlands to hunt for food. 

Grosbeak

This Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus
male paused on the deck rail for a moment after he helped himself to sunflower seeds from the bird feeder.

It is always easy to tell adult males from females -- he is a black-and-white bird with a brilliant rose-red chevron extending from his black throat down the middle of the breast.

A female adult is not black and white, but heavily streaked brown shades with a lighter eye stripe.

But juvenile males are not easily recognized.  Their first plumage is like their mother, streaky brown with gold brown breast.  In their hatch year, male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are streaky brown overall with white patches on the primary wing feathers and pink patches on the underwings.  Females in their hatch year are streaky brown overall with small white patches on the primaries and yellow patch on the underwing.

RBG usually nest in a vertical fork or crotch of a sapling.  There are plenty of saplings around the pond.

juvenile birds

The wild wild woods and the feeder garden are full of fledgelings and juvenile birds.  Some are learning to get suet from the hanging dispensers.  This Downy Woodpecker has been at the suet three days in a row.  If it is with the same young bird, I suspect she is pretending to be a slow learner so the adult continues to serve it up.

juvenile Bluebird

This little Eastern Bluebird comes from the first clutch of eggs laid and hatched in the nestbox.  The adults have started clutch number two with eggs in the nest.

juveniles

We're seeing juvenile birds in the wild wild woods, now that many are out of their nests and learning to hunt and fly.  This Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinusstill has young short tail feathers and no red coloring on its head yet. 

Northern Cardinals

This Spring, the pair of Northern Cardinals claiming the wild wild woods as their nesting territory came often to the tray feeder. The female is a lovely young thing.  Her mate sports a strange mix of feathers, not the usual intense red coat of feathers.  Maybe he is a very young male who has not grown into his full adult colors.  In any case, she felt he was up to the task of helping her raise some offspring.



This week, they are bringing their two youngsters to the seed tray.

young birds

Several bird species were successful at hatching and fledging babies this summer in the wild wild woods. 



This young Black-capped Chickadee found a peanut too big for him, but he can peck at it to manage a treat.

This Downy Woodpecker male (with the red cap) is feeding a young at the suet block, hoping he will learn to help himself before winter sets in.




The two big guys below may look like a battling pair.  The brown one is a juvenile Common Grackle begging from his parent at the seed tray.  This is how young birds learn to fend for themselves.

juvenile or adult?

These two Northern Cardinals Cardinalis cardinalis look alike.  Both are females, so have some red feathers like the all-red males, but are mostly tan rusty brownish so they can hide better from predators in nesting season.

But notice the difference between the adult and juvenile?

The young first-year female Cardinal above still has her juvenile dark grey bill.  Her new adult feathers are just coming in to form her winter coat.

The adult female Cardinal at right is identified by her bright orange or red bill.  Her feathers look disorganized like her youngster because she is molting.  She loses her old worn feathers in late summer, so her new warm winter feathers are just growing in.

juvenile bird training

Juvenile birds are quite visible this week, as they follow their parents to our feeders at the edge of the woods.  The young ones seem to be as large as the adults, but show their immaturity by flapping wings and frantic calls for food while the parents demonstrate how to find it.  One goldfinch had four young begging around him on adjacent branches.

juvenile Grosbeak

This young Grosbeak has been coming to the suet feeder.  Juvenile Red-breasted Grosbeaks are streaked brown and white with a bold face pattern and enormous bill.  As an adult, it will have a stout triangular bill, and use it to eat a variety of seeds and crunchy insects. If a female, it will remain similar to this feather pattern and coloring; if a male, it will molt into a black-and-white theme with a brilliant rose breast.