This young, unexperienced Black Redstart somehow nearly got himself scalped. With a face like this, Apache is the first name that came to my mind when the bird became a regular at my window feeder. Who would imagine a bird’s head is so flat without all the fluffy down to cover it!
Location: Bayreuth, Germany
How about starting the new year with a grumpy chick?
Location: Paris, France
This Blackbird juvenile was fetched, unwell, on the side of the road, taken care of and released where it was found a couple days later. The parents took no more than 20 minutes find the fledgling after hearing his high pitched calls. They instantly recognized and welcoming him back. Before these pictures were taken, the hungry fledgling was given some banana-plum mix; some leftovers can be seen on the tip of its large bill.
You can read more about Blackbirds here.
Location: Bayreuth, Germany
Portraits of Spot (top) and Apache (bottom), two black redstart chicks and siblings that visited my attic window feeding station for about a month after fledgling this past spring. Lively, curious and bold, the birds provided a great daily dose of entertainement. On these pictures, the juveniles are a little over a month and a half old. Both birds progressively vanished from the area shortly after these shots were taken probably in quest of a territory to settle in.
Location: Bayreuth, Germany
The events depicted in the short video below took place over the course of six hours on May 25, 2014. For a full account of these events and some background, you can read From Nestling to Fledgling. For best viewing quality, select HD (1080p) and enlarge video.Regrettably, I was unable to get a proper video of the precious fledging moments even though it occured three times before my marvelled eyes. This is due to my camera’s technical limitations and because I had to save my battery life for the whole event: it was impossible for me to keep the camera running until the hesistant chicks made up their mind―which took a very long time!
