Annual Baby Bird Edition

I’m always surprised by the number of young birds we see around the pond in the spring.

I spied a Green Heron nest a few weeks back. I’ll put together a separate series of pictures to watch them growing up. In watching the little ones, we became aware of two more nests on the pond. Both of these new nests were much further along than the one we had been watching. This trio was fairly close to the spillway. They’ve fledged since I took the picture.

Here’s an adult Eastern Kingbird along with a fledgling, which looks like it’s still growing into its feathers.

We often get lots of young Eastern Bluebirds, but they don’t always line up (with Mom) quite like this.

Finally, this morning I saw a young Red-bellied Woodpecker high in a tree. It was fairly advanced in age, because it was already looking for food (but not old enough to get red feathers on its head). I was trying to get a good picture when Dad showed up with some additional food.

Another great thing about this picture is that you can see the adult’s red belly. A common question is “why can’t I see the red on the belly?” The reason is that the red is on the belly, not the chest. Usually their legs (and the rest of their body) are close to the tree, so it’s obscured.

Like what you see here? Let me know what you liked!

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