Tag Archives: Juvenile Bird

Duck

Make Way – Wood Duck Ducklings

July 27, 2021 Ellen Jennings 13 Comments

I was quite surprised to spot young ducklings last week at Ravenswood Pond, thinking the season was past. I continued on my walk not expecting to see them again as they tend to make a beeline for the other side of the pond.

But, when I passed back by the ducklings were up near the shore. They quickly headed back out into the pond.

Which way?

They regrouped and stayed together for as long as I could spot them.

The mother didn’t show any concern.

For context, here is a pulled back view. Those ducklings are out there somewhere, tucked under the vegetation somewhere between mama and the juvenile Little Blue Heron.

Wood Duck - Where Are the Ducklings — Wood Duck – Where Are the Ducklings?

Water Birds

Brown Pelican Chicks On the Beach

July 23, 2021 Ellen Jennings 4 Comments

These are a few more images of Brown Pelicans chicks showing the chicks interacting, very awkwardly.

Adult Brown Pelicans are somewhat awkward on land, and if you notice the feet you can see why.

As previously mentioned, I regret I didn’t use a higher shutter speed to offset some of the bobbing boat motion. The images are over-sharpened somewhat to try to make up for that, but I wanted to share them for the seldom seen chick behavior.

Taken from a boat at Bird Key Stono Heritage Preserve
Between Kiawah Island and Folly Beach, SC

July 12, 2021

Water Birds

Brown Pelican Chicks Getting Fed

July 12, 2021 Ellen Jennings 5 Comments

Ted and I went on a guided boat adventure today that included watching juvenile Pelicans at Bird Key Stono Seabird Sanctuary, a significant nesting habitat for seabirds and shorebirds.

Two Brown Pelican Chicks Getting Fed By Parent

Taking pictures from a bobbing boat is a challenge and I regret I didn’t use a higher shutter speed. The chicks are very awkward walkers and not yet flying

Brown Pelican chicks feed a lot like the herons, with the young reaching down into the adult’s throat to get food, not the mouth pouch which is used to catch food.

Bird Key, not much more than a sandbar, is a barrier island that sits in the mouth of the Stono River, between Kiawah and Folly Islands.

Wading Birds

Yellow-crowned Night-heron Chicks

June 28, 2021 Ellen Jennings 2 Comments

A fellow photographer pointed out this nest where he had seen three Yellow-crowned Night-heron chicks the day before. With the fuzzy head and how he was mostly laying down I’d guess a week or 10 days old.

After a bit the first chick and one nest-mate, rather camouflaged to the right in the twigs, stood up for a look around.

From a different angle a quarter of a way around the tree I spotted one chick. He looked older, but it’s hard to say for sure with the curtain of Spanish Moss.

If you zoom in you’ll see an eye of a second bird to the left of the standing bird, at nest-top level, just before the big clump of Spanish Moss.

Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC
June 27, 2021

Wading Birds

Great Egret Chicks: Learning To Get Along

June 24, 2021 Ellen Jennings Leave a comment

Other than getting fed juvenile wading birds don’t have much to do until they learn to fly. If there is more than one in the nest any siblings are fair game for attention and practicing life skills.

Juvenile Great Egret Chicks, Adult Flying Off

In this case they didn’t pay any heed to their neighbors, which in turn, ignored them.

Even when the ruckus ramped up.

Wading Birds

Great Egret Chicks: Feed Me!

June 22, 2021 Ellen Jennings 4 Comments

Adult Great Egrets get quite a workout feeding their young, and all this after procuring something for them to eat.

The chicks are aggressive about getting their share.

You can hear the “feed me” chorus, which is how the photographer often knows there is action afoot.

One more go at the regurgitation. I never saw the food, at this age it goes directly into the juvenile’s throats.

That’s it, I’m out.

Water Birds

Common Gallinule Chicks

June 14, 2021 Ellen Jennings 2 Comments

The Common Gallinule chicks I saw last week wandered in and out of some pond-side vegetation going through the water, and sometimes just plomping down to rest.