Out on their own

... but not quite grown up yet. Sparrow chicks, New Westminster Quay

House sparrow, eating grass and weeds growing between the paving stones.

Still wearing his baby feathers.

A white-crowned sparrow chick, still fluffy.

Birding from my desk

While the sun still shone, a pair of robins brought their youngsters to see the worm hunting grounds.

Waiting to be fed. They don't know how to find their own yet.

"Mommy? Where are you? I'm hungry!"

I love looking up from the computer to see my garden, the lawn, and this time of year, a constant parade of youngsters; caterpillars, squirrels, chickadees (5 this spring), white crowned sparrows, the robins, and some evenings even raccoons. And once a mamma mallard led her brood down the walk and out to the street, probably heading for the puddles in the vacant lot.

Independence? Not yet!

I looked up from supper to see this white crowned sparrow family, three youngsters and a hard-working parent, getting their own meal outside my window.

Waiting his turn

The chicks are as tall as their mother.

When the mother's back was turned, the chicks kept busy picking up seeds and eating them. As soon as she came close, though, they immediately became helpless, and stood waiting to be fed. Little con artists!

Sandhills, revisited.

Searching my photo storage yesterday, looking for a specific coot photo for Laurie, (we found it) I discovered a series of sandhill cranes from last July 22.

Better late than never, they say. So here they are:

We saw them first, far across a lagoon in the bushes at Reifel Island. They noticed us, too, and waded over, probably because they saw me feeding the mallards.  We weren't expecting them, and had walked on down the path, but they hurried after us, and demanded goodies.

There were a pair of adults, and one youngster. The parents kept the colt, as sandhill chicks are called, protected between them the whole time. They didn't seem to mind us coming close, as long as we moved slowly and kept on dumping bird seed for them.

The young sandhill was as tall as the adults, but didn't have the red head or grey neck. And the neck was visibly thinner; its got a ways to go before it can kill its own food. The parents would feed it until it was able to fly, at about two or three months old. It will live with them for the first year.

This year, 2010, a sandhill pair at Reifel hatched two chicks the beginning of June. I don't know if this is the same family. However, the colt still has the juvenal downy crown.

Neck and head of young sandhill, still shedding down.

Adult head, grey feathers and red bald patch.

Three in a nest

Barn swallow chicks, wondering about these strange visitors with three eyes:

Click on the photo to see the cute stripy feet clutching the edge of the nest.

"Come back in a week and watch us fly!"

Alaksen Wildlife Research Centre, main building. Every possible ledge and pipe held a nest.

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