Gimme! Gimme! GIMME!!!

There is nothing subtle about the roar of the fledgling starling. They're the in-your-face demanding type of kids. So what does the mama do? Mostly ignore the roar. Of course she runs the risk of having her rear end pecked by the persistent babies, but eventually, and faster than you could imagine, the kids learn to pick for themselves. They find something on their own, eat,- but when they see Mama the roaring resumes. It's easy spotting young starlings. Just follow the noise. Big, brown, goofy babies.

CSI Hudson River

Boo hoo!!! Body in the river. Drowned teddy bear. It took every ounce of self control not to leap in and try and rescue it. Poor Teddy.

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It's that time again

Down to the River. It's time. Goslings! I knew I'd see some. There should be more. I love geese.
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Down in the garden

The robin babies are growing. They're now hanging out in a closer area very close to the nest site. Baby #2 is high in a tree and Baby #1 is sitting in a berry tree, very convenient. Papa picks berries and pops same in baby's mouth. Hard to get pictures because branches are in way. I did see the baby pluck a berry and eat it on its own, but after that it accepted at least 20 berries from Papa. At least Papa doesn't have to go running around the ground to look for food. It's all right there. As neighbors stopped by they asked, "What's that?" Baby #1 from the nest. Response 100%: "That's a baby?!" Two big babies now.

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More kids

I'm used to meeting baby starlings at the end of June, not the end of May. If this is a sign, we're going to be having a lot of new starlings in town. They are bratty babies, yelling for food, running up and biting the mother in the behind if she doesn't deliver. After about three days she does her best to ignore her brats. It's not uncommon to see a mother running away followed by the demanding kids. They learn very fast how to fend for themselves. The first week out of the nest interaction is fun to watch.

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Family portrait?

Mama was in the nest with her babies. All was calm and orderly. Then Mama flew off for a break. Play time. I was hoping for a lovely family portrait. What went on was romp and stomp. The pictures speak for themselves. The growth is amazing. The babies are really aware of life outside the nest now.

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Paternal care

Daddy is feeding his babies, hard work since one is way up a tree yards away from the other who's setting in the dense bushes, same bushes shared with nesting cardinals. Papa brought worms to Baby #1, not bread like the day before. Baby #2 was more accessible for pictures, so I watched on and off during the day. It was a challenge, because there was only one small gap in the bushes for viewing and the dappled lighting made it hard to control contrast. There was no shifting position for a better angle. Shifting meant no view. Rembrandt light and shadow. This baby looks like an infant when sitting quietly, but at feeding time you see the adult-to-be. The papa flies into the bushes from several approaches, from the east, from the north, never a direct approach to avoid any peril to this fledgling. The worms usually go down faster than the camera can capture, less than one second, down-the-hatch. Before feeding the bird calls, "Cheep cheep!", which means, "Feed me!" After feeding the baby repeats, "Cheep cheep", which sounds like, "Thank you". Or maybe it's "Feed me!" again.