Feed me, Mom!

There are a lot of open mouths at this time of year waiting for food to be dropped in, hard working parents.

Waiting patiently.

The non-stop call of the baby sparrow was the clue. This baby was calling even with food-in-mouth.

No peace for the parents. The call for food is non-stop.

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Food

The young robins have to find their own food, not always an easy task. They look so strong, new, fresh, clean, but they have lots of skills to develop.


This youngster spotted a berry. Mmmmmm, juicy berry. Only one problem. The stem was still attached.

Down the berry went.

Back it came. It's that stem. This is a problem.

Down it went again.

And back it came.

And down it went yet again.

And back it came again a bit mushed from the efforts.

Okay..... shake it around a bit. Maybe the stem will snap off.

And it did.

Ah, that's better. Squished berry down the hatch.

Meanwhile, the nestlings don't have this concern. Parents bring the meals.

Live meals.

Think spaghetti for dinner.

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By the river

Parents on full alert. Get too close and get hissed at.

Babies on vegetable patrol. The Hudson salad bar.

Delicious even without French dressing.

Protection while resting, invisible from above.

Whoa! Something else is going on here. Young grackle with food. What food???? Oh my goodness, CRAB!

This is the third time I'm seeing grackle-eating-crab, so for sure there are crabs in the river.

This juvenile isn't quite sure what to do with crab, but knows it's something tasty.

Adult grackle also has crab.

Finally, proof of how they eat the body works. This grackle has bitten off a hunk of bottom and top crab shell with crab meat in between, a crab taco for the nestling.

Meanwhile, up the hill parent robin is plucking worms-for-babies. No tugging necessary. The worms are out of the soil. Easy pickin's.

Finally, would you like this in your living room???

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Hawk Family

The leaf cover is very dense. Hard to see what's happening in nest with second clutch of eggs. I didn't see Mama until I had been watching for 20 minutes.

And then noise caught my attention. Birds screaming. Squirrels calling. There had to be Papa hawk in vicinity. All that was necessary was to follow the sound. Papa watching for a meal to the distress of all others.

He did swoop down into the brush and catch something, but I couldn't tell what it was... a mouse?, a mole?, a young squirrel?, a small rat?..... something very small.

He flew into several trees obviously looking for nests with nestlings. In one tree he moved around and two heavy branches broke off and fell to the ground. Thank goodness nobody was sitting under this tree. The falling branches resembled logs. Eventually Papa flew north.

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