More Baby Birds Summer 2023 Blog Series #2

Hi again! I hope you all were able to read my blog last week! I showed some nests and cute baby birds! Many birds are still building nests and having babies so watch for signs of activity around you. Today, I saw a Robin carrying nesting materials and my House Wrens came back to brood again. My daughter has Eastern Phoebes nestlings in Ludlow now-so cute! But, as promised, today’s blog is about bigger baby birds or fledglings. I am seeing so many birds carrying food and feeding their young in my yard now. I love watching the wing-flapping that every baby bird does when it is begging for food! What kind of birds are raising their families in your yard!? It is tricky to identify baby birds as many can look quite different from their parents at first. Some even look like little aliens to me LOL!

I posted many videos of parents feeding their young to my social media sites. I shared footage of my Hairy Woodpecker couple feeding their baby from my suet feeder. I showed a Gray Catbird proudly carrying his green inchworm by my camera to feed his little one. I also shared 2 Baltimore Orioles feeding their youngster Smuckers Grape Jelly in my tree and an adorable Chipping Sparrow fledgling from Monson. Recently, my Red-bellied Woodpecker parents fed their fledgling something they got out of my gutter-trying not to think about what THAT was. My Tufted Titmice babies from my last blog have fledged, and Mama and Dada are carrying nut pieces and mealworms to them. The American Robin and Carolina Wrens also serve this worm delicacy to their babies!

I also love to listen to the sweet sounds baby birds make. They are quite vocal when they want to be fed. But they are amazingly smart too. You may have noticed that they will be totally silent if you if you get too close to their location. Fledglings generally hide in the trees and wait for the parents to feed them as shown in my videos. As they become more proficient fliers, they follow their parents around and bug them for food-just like human kids! The parents are still very watchful over their fledglings during this dangerous time. My Catbirds currently chase away the Blue Jays whenever they get too close to the lilac bush. While some birds, such as hawks and Northern Mockingbirds will swoop at possible threats, other parents will fly away from their young to distract possible predators. I am careful to never stress parents or babies and am lucky enough to have a long lens to photograph them from a distance!  

Not all baby birds and parents fear me though. Last year I shared my Eastern Bluebirds swooping at squirrels and Dada pecking at his reflection. You can still see these on Facebook. My Blues would warn of my dad and my husband, but bring their babies close to me! I had some amazing experiences this year in my happy place-Fannie Stebbins Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow. The Mute Swans and Canada Geese families actually came to me when I called as I shared on my Facebook page. They trusted me to be near and feed their fledglings. I am always humbled by how well these waterfowl take care of their young. I do get stressed watching them try to protect their young when the fledglings get minds of their own. People drive through Fannie WAY too fast given all the wildlife living in the refuge. ☹

I had some neat encounters so far this year in my birding travels too! When I went to Skinner Mountain in Hadley, I saw the Ovenbird below carrying food to its young! This was very cool because even though you can hear these birds singing everywhere, they usually stay out of sight. In the Quabbin, my friend Lori and I saw some Scarlet Tanager fledglings that looked VERY different their Dada. I shared video of the beautiful Sand Hill Crane fledgling below from my yard in Port St. Lucie. I also went back to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago. I birded with my Bestie who got her OWN camera-so cool! Tree Swallows and House Wrens filled all the bird houses there. There were lots of wrens in the forest too. I could hear Eastern Meadowlarks nesting in the waving fields, but never saw one. UGH! But there was an unusually friendly young Yellow-throated Vireo that followed me. He even posed for you all as you can see below! You can read my baby bird blogs from last week and last year to learn about nests, helping baby birds you find and lots more! Thank you to all my new followers! I appreciate all of my followers SO MUCH!  I am also grateful to those of you who are sharing my posts.  You can all the videos I discussed and more on my Facebook, TikTok and Instagram pages. See the Contact Me page for info. Take care and have fun birding! Robin😊