Tag: juvenile

Week 40. White-crowned Sparrows.

Autumn migration is well underway on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario.

We had an influx of Sparrow species on the Friday of week 40 so I set up in the yard on Saturday morning despite there being thick cloud with light rain at times.

Here is an adult White-crowned Sparrow with an immature in the background. In the spring the adult migrated to the far north to breed in brushy areas of the taiga and tundra. It’s now heading south for the winter and could travel as far south as central Mexico. The immature bird in the background will have hatched from an egg a few months ago and is heading south for the first time.

White-crowned Sparrows on autumn migration.

Sanderling on autumn migration.

Throwback Thursday travels back to the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario in the mid 2000s.

I had gone down to the shoreline for the sunrise and discovered a small flock of juvenile Sanderling that had stopped off to feed on their way south for the winter.

I spent some time with them, this is one of them feeding on the shoreline.

Feeding juvenile Sanderling.

Grey in grey.

This week’s Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire, England in the 1990s.

This is a juvenile Grey Heron photographed at a reservoir in south Cheshire. The water level was low with mud in front of the hide and there was a thick fog blanketing the area. The Grey Heron spent some time wandering around the mud before hunkering down and looking grumpy.

This is a copy of a Kodachrome slide, it hasn’t been desaturated or converted to monochrome although I did bring out the film grain when editing the shot.

Sitting in the fog.

Is that food?

Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire in the 1990s with a photo of a juvenile Grey Heron. At this time of year the juveniles are wandering around exploring the area, checking out feeding locations and finding places to roost.

A local Natural History Society had a wooden hide (blind) on a reservoir in south Cheshire which is where this shot was taken from. When the water level in the reservoir was low the tree stump would appear. I’ve got quite a few species on the stump.

This juvenile Grey Heron amused me. It appeared to be trying to decide if the isolated part of the stump above the water is edible although it’s probably watching something in the water.

Is that food?

Juvenile Chipping Sparrow.

Taken a week ago, this is a juvenile Chipping Sparrow in the yard. It must have been a very late brood, the adults had been feeding three young a few days before this photo was taken.

This juvenile is already looking after itself as it searches for something to eat in the grass. They will soon be heading south for the winter.

Chipping Sparrow juvenile.

 

Feeding on Poppy seeds.

Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire in the 1980s. The juvenile Eurasian Blue Tit is feeding on a Poppy seed head.

The photo is interesting for a couple of reasons. The juvenile Blue Tit is ringed. I did some research and the closest ringing location I could find was three miles away in a straight line. Which means that this juvenile has already travelled some distance from where it was ringed. Being a juvenile it could have been ringed when it was still in the nestbox.

Also interesting is that the bird is feeding on Poppy seeds after pecking a hole in the seed head. I have seen adult Blue Tits feeding this way. So did the juvenile bird learn this behavior by watching an adult or is it instinctive behavior to peck open seed heads?

Eating Poppy seeds.