Fledglings

A fledgling looks up into the tree calling to his mother.

Last year about this time we were watching two robin fledglings taking flight and starting life on their own. We'd found them on the ground with very few feathers so we put them in an abandoned nest we had tied to a tree. I've learned a lot about baby birds in the year since that experience.

This year it's as if fledglings are falling out of the sky. Out of their nests anyway. Guess they do. There have been several in the yard over the past few weeks. This year it's Blackbirds and Robins. Blackbirds outnumber the robins by three to one in this case. I've watched as a mother Blackbird brings food to her baby at regular intervals. The fledgling sleeps in the grass or on the driveway in between visits. One evening he went to a fir tree and looked up into the branches calling out to his mother. She might have had a nest there. The next day he managed to get to the lot next to our house and I watched him from the kitchen window calling out when he was hungry. Mother would feed him and his little wings would flap as she did. He was out on his own flying the next day.

Yesterday a newly flighted Robin landed next to the feeder. I didn't recognize what kind of bird he was a first. He looked so exotic with spots on his chest and his feathers all kind of askew.

Tonight we have another baby blackbird in the yard. He's sleeping next to the drive close to the house. I went over before the sun set to look at him. He closed his eyes and would peek at me every so often just like my parakeets do to me sometimes as if they can hide by closing their eyes. He's a big fat baby, probably about ready to take off on his own soon. I've been hearing him all day. I recognize that call now, we've hear it so often.

They just sleep on the ground and the mother in me finds it disconcerting, hoping they'll be safe. If it would help I'd go out and sleep next to him, but I'm thinking he and his mother would rather I didn't. :)

Early Morning Swan Feed

Today is Saturday and the annual Indian Lake wide garage sale is happening today. Everyone involved is up early getting their tables all ready for the parade of cars, minivans, golf carts, bikes, strollers and pedestrians. I went through my usual routine feeding the dog, my birds and the wild birds that visit our feeder each day before opening for business. As I stood out on the deck a family of swans swam close by and I spoke to them. They quickly started my way expecting to be fed. So I went inside and got out the bread I keep just for such an occasion and went downstairs to the dock hoping they'd be waiting. They had gone down the bay a short distance but came hurriedly back when they saw me.

I had never been so close to such tiny swans before. Three grey and one white little swan swam along side their elegant and very large parents. The little ones were angelic. The male adult came up very close and hissed at me so he got fed first. The babies were in the middle and the mommy stayed just to one side but a little behind the babies. She let the kids eat first. Not so with dad! He was hungry and vocal about it. When I'd run out of bread I noticed some had dropped on the dock and I bent down to push it into the water. Both adults came at me hissing. They are very protective of their babies and rightly so.

I feel honored to have had those few moments with them this morning. I'll blink and those tiny birds will be gangly teens.