Baby Western Kingbird

-

This is the time of year when baby birds are everywhere--in nests, learning to fly and falling on the ground. These pics are of a Western Kingbird nestling that left it's nest prematurely, whether by falling out or being pushed out of the nest. It was an older nestling that is fully feathered (it even looks like a W Kingbird) but check out the very short tail. I spotted it as I drove down a country road and stopped to put it in a less hazardess location. Though it was just mostly a ball of fluff, it had a good size beak that it used to protect itself with quite well. I had to get an old sweatshirt out of my car to pick it up in so as to avoid being pinched. Both pics are of good quality, especially the bottom pic which has excellent resolution, so do double-cick on them for a great super close-ups. SeEtta

Comments

Unknown said…
Thanks for posting this. I saw two babies in Highlands Ranch on the ground and was able to identify them using your picture. I haven't seen them since so I hope they are ok.
May 20, 2019 at 11:57 AM
SRM said…
I am happy my photos helped you identify the baby Western Kingbirds. These young fledglings are at high risk as they develop their skills to fly fly away from danger but that is how they have evolved. I hope they are ok too.
May 20, 2019 at 7:29 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spotted Sandpiper Chicks, 3 more days older

-
Image
Two days when I went to check on the Spotted Sandpiper family at Florence River Park I thought they had likely perished--there were two men engaged in gold panning right where the parent sandpiper had been and they had dug some of the sand from the bank where I last saw the sandpiper chicks. Arggh, I was afraid that all this activity, plus a large off leash dog with these people, would have scared the parent away and even if the chicks were successful in hiding in the vegetation they would not survive without a parent at their young age. What a surprise when I returned that evening for one last check to be accosted by the parent sandpiper calling loudly and challenging me by walking right towards me (and my dog). It took awhile for the parent to settle down and for one of the chicks to walk in some grass where I could spot it--the parent had moved the chicks about 150 from the river into an area with a lot of vegetation. I returned day before yesterday and refound the parent and
Read more

Recently fledged Common Raven

-
Image
At the end of March this year I spotted a Common Raven going into a crevice above a rock face of a local cliff area called Castle Rock (as part of it looks sort of like a castle). I started watching this area and observed a pair of Common Ravens spending time around this location. On March 27 I spotted one of the ravens inside the crevice which now had what looked like nesting material in it--the photograph of that is the second pic here. I continued off and on to check this apparent crevice nest. At the end of May I saw what appeared to be a nestling inside the crevice. I continued birding in the riparian forest across the Arkansas River from this cliff area. When I was about a quarter mile away I heard a lot of raven racket and walked to a spot where I could see the cliff area through my binoculars. I could see a lot of raven action with the parent birds calling loudly so I expected that the nestling may have fledged or they were trying to get it to fledge. I went back t
Read more