End of week #1

The robin fledglings have now been out of the nest one week. They can both run around the ground, but seem to prefer sitting in the berry trees. This makes for easy feeding for Papa,

food-at-hand. The first born recognizes the berries and will peck at them every once in a while. They still have to learn to feed themselves, pick berries and seeds and find their own worms. The robins co-exist at peace with the cardinals who also like the berries. Papa cardinal is bringing berries to his mate who is nest-sitting nearby. However, other robins are driven out of the territory by both Mama and Papa. To my amazement the babies chased away sparrows. They gave a warning call and the sparrows departed. Mama is building her next nest in this same space, about 1/3 acre, a nest up high. She's learned a good lesson,

higher = safer.

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Fast growth

The little hawk family changes from day to day. Mama was around,... watching her kids, bringing branches to the "playpen". The kids are very alert to the world outside the nest. The Riverside Park groundskeepers were trimming weeds and the babies really watched what was going on.

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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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