Fledglings
The activity around the garden birdhouse has been, well, active. Both house sparrow parents have been extremely busy ferrying food to the young ones--at a guess, at least four of them--for the past few weeks. As we're out and around in the garden, we can hear the cheeping of hungry birdlings coming from the box. Happily, our presence doesn't seem to annoy the parents, and they just keep chugging along, bringing load after load of food to stuff into eager beaks.
Early this morning we were very privileged to view a few of the young sparrows fledge, taking their first flights out of the bird box to nearby trees. First, a small head head peeks out, then retreats. The head re-appears and looks right, left, up, and down. Thinks about things. Retreats again. The third time's a winner; the young sparrow pushes off and heads for the pines. Landing on a twig, he teeters precariously for a few seconds, gets his balance, and hops up to a more stable perch.
His brother is not so graceful. Emulating his sibling, he peeks and retreats a few times, then launches himself out of the box, only to collide in mid-air with a grackle flying past. The grackle, more mature and bigger, simply continues flying; the young sparrow takes an unplanned dive to the ground. After sitting and thinking for a few seconds, he flutters to a nearby bush, gathers his composure and heads hesitatingly toward his brother in the pine.
Within an hour, four little sparrows had exited the box at the urging of their parents. Once the fledglings were in the trees, the parents flew off into the woods. This caused some concern among the young, who sat on branches, cheeping in alarm at this desertion. As the day wore on, at least a few of the young sparrows retreated back to the box, and as of this evening, Mama Sparrow was still bringing food to fill hungry beaks.
Meanwhile, at the other feeders, one of the young red-bellied woodpeckers is learning how to handle the suet feeder...
Yes, it's certainly a festival of fledglings around here!
See you and the hungry young birds by the feeders,
Mrs. CapeCodAlan
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