Juvenile Robins Just Prior to Fledging
by Marty Saccone
Title
Juvenile Robins Just Prior to Fledging
Artist
Marty Saccone
Medium
Photograph - Fine Photography
Description
How it unfolded,......
On this morning I had noticed a different behavior toward the juveniles by the adult male and female Robins.
They were no longer returning with worms, insects and caterpillars for the 3 hungry juveniles still in the nest. Upon return, they were Instead immediately flying away as if abandoning the three juveniles. My guess that it was an instinctive signal to the juveniles to now leave the nest and fledge, because that is exactly what happened.
The juvenile Robin in the background had just ventured away leaving its two siblings alone in the nest. There had been quite a bit of wing flapping, preening and stretching of wings activity that told me the time was near.
Once it started, everything happened rather quickly.
The juveniles became extremely restless. One at a time they cautiously ventured into the tree limbs leaving their empty nest behind.
The adult male and female were darting in flight about the tree chirping loudly communicating with the young ones as if encouraging their departure.
The juveniles chirped back weakly while sensing the unknown, not knowing where or what to do.
Two juveniles bravely leaped from the tree wings flapping, landing into the thick vegetation of our flower garden. One of the adults darted around the lawn chirping nearby with each of the grounded juveniles.
One juvenile that stayed behind venturing higher into the tree, remaining there afraid of the unknown while weakly chirping with the parents its location, then something unusual occurred.
As I was photographing that last sibling in the tree, one of the adult Robins flew into the tree with a caterpillar in its beak and in one swift fly by, fed that caterpillar to the scared baby, I actually caught the sequence with a burst of 3 images in the camera.
Although a bit blurred I recognizably caught the fly by feeding as it happened.
What an unexpected completion to my two week documentation that I never expected.
This image is from my documenting series of the incubation, nesting and nurturing of three new born Robin juveniles and the male and female parenting that transpired from June 12th thru July 9th, 2017. A selection of the images may be viewed at marty-saccone.pixels.com
Uploaded
July 17th, 2017
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Viewed 370 Times - Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/24/2024 at 4:52 AM
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Comments (7)
William Tasker
It looks like the parents did a great job. They are all beautiful. Great take, Mr. Birder. Hehe. Your beautiful image has been featured by Wild Birds Of The World, a nature photography group. L/F