As many young birds leave the nest for the first time, they often stay in the immediate vicinity of their nest. But as a few days pass and they become stronger flyers, they venture farther out.
Watch these young birds accompany their parents to your yard. At first they're not quite ready to tackle the birdfeeders yet. Their landings may still be clumsy and they're still discovering what is food and what isn't. So they're still being fed by their parents.
You'll find that during this short period, these young birds will sit in or on a nearby tree or shrub while their parent gathers food at your birdfeeders. Sometimes they sit quietly, and sometimes they can be quite vocal or moan-y. As the parent approaches (with food or not), the young birds will call out. They may quiver their wings and open their mouth wide, hoping to be fed.
So watch for a parent leaving your feeders with food in their mouth and they might be approaching an anxious and hungry youngster in your tree.
It is such a wonderful sight to watch young birds being fed! Take all this in while you can. Within days, the young birds will follow their parents' lead and start making their own trips to your birdfeeders. And with many species, the ability to tell young from old will disappear.
Great photos! I love watching this behavior in my yard. I see it a lot with chickadees!
Posted by: Sarah | June 06, 2016 at 12:16 PM
Thanks much Barbara! I'm glad you enjoyed.
Posted by: The Zen Birdfeeder | July 10, 2015 at 11:09 AM
Great photos Nancy- a series of great photos.
Posted by: Barbara | July 08, 2015 at 08:40 AM