I was able to get close to this little bird for a long time to get these pictures. He didn't seem to know the usual flying away routine.
July 20, 2014
The fledgling robin.
I was able to get close to this little bird for a long time to get these pictures. He didn't seem to know the usual flying away routine.
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Vicki and Robin.
About that age if you tap their beak they'll gape for food and flap their little wings.
Parents shuttle food to them.
They have a wet sort of cry that's distinctive, meaning I'm over here bring food.
Turdus migratorius (the American robin) is what Titus will become when he hits his snowbird years.
I'm at latitude 47. At this latitude, I believe that most birds have fledged by the 4th of July.
I don't think this bird has a very bright future.
Beautiful.
Many years ago we saw a sad kid walking down the sidewalk carrying a box with a baby robin in it. He said his mom wouldn't let him keep it, so we took it and fed it worms and wet dog-food, and it grew up with a slightly weird but still robin-sounding chirp, and eventually flew away.
The next year it was back on the porch with its distinctive chirp.
We saw a sad sight yesterday at dusk. Every day just at dusk a male and female cardinal had been flying to bird feeder on our deck. Lately the female seemed to be in distress, and the male would bring sunflower seeds from the feeder and lay them on top of the deck railing for her to eat. We started putting sunflower seeds right on top of the railing for the two them just before dusk.
Yesterday he showed up alone.
You see a robin, I see a whole bunch of ex-worms.
... bring sunflower seeds from the feeder and lay them on top of the deck railing for her to eat.
I had crows picking up chunks of dry dog food, putting them in a birdbath, then flying away, then back with some crow friends to eat the softened food.
Right now we have lots of hummingbirds, and there have been a few that looked to be in poor shape...the others pick on them relentlessly.
I was sitting in my garage when a young bird flew in, thrashed around amongst the garden tools and finally flew back out. There was all kinds of squawking going on outside so I went out to see what was going on and was dive-bombed by (presumably) the mom and dad.
Picture #1: Althouse self-portrait via young robin.
"I was able to get close to this little bird for a long time to get these pictures. He didn't seem to know the usual flying away routine."
Maybe because you were dressed as Batman! Ha! Batman and Robin, get it? You were dressed like Batman so the Robin stayed put: sometimes I have to explain. Maybe you even had worms in your bat-Belt! Wow - worms in the Bat-Belt -- that's crazy! And Meade was dressed as the Penguin! Birds everywhere! What a neighborhood!
Yep.
"I'll Fly Away"...Gillian Welch
You're good with that camera, Professor.
Animals, and birds, that do not flee when humans approach, usually are very sick with something.
Plague, tularemia, West Nile, H5N1, something.
So was this one of those famous baskin' robins?
"Animals, and birds, that do not flee when humans approach, usually are very sick with something."
In the case of young birds, it's far more likely that they just don't know any better, and/or don't have the ability or strength to flee. We see this sort of behavior with juvenile robins on our back porch all summer long.
Birds that young are better off staying still than running.
The week they spend on the ground is the most dangerous to them.
I think survival rates to breeding are something like one in a hundred, which is all you need to replace the population.
Like rabbits, they produce mostly food chain.
The entire first brood of house sparrows around here is eaten by starlings. Then the protein-rich bugs come out and the starlings leave the house sparrows alone for broods 2-4.
Symbolic imagery from 'Blue Velvet.' Surrealism. Hopeful and haunting.
Strength in numbers.
If you will notice that the little fledgling has almost no tail feathers and without them, he cannot fly. They will pop out soon and he/she will be on their way.
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