Hungry Birds

Right now our yard is inundated with fledgling birds. They spend their days learning to fly, and learning to take care of themselves...and squawking for their parents.

And boy can they squawk! Danjo and I remember this well from our days as lovebird owners. We had a pair of lovebirds (aptly named) and their five hungry babies in our tiny one bedroom apartment. Baby birds are always hungry. Seriously always. 24-7. No exaggeration. Their squawks are small when they are newly hatched, and gain in volume as they grow. Danjo took our little flock and sold them to the petstore when it got intolerable.

We've been watching all these baby starlings. They land in the yard, squawking, and pester the attending parent unrelentingly, squawking, only stopping briefly if they are actually swallowing something. When the parent gets fed up, or runs out of food, it flies off for a while (ever wish you had wings like that?).

When mom/dad is away, the kids shut up, and look around, and begin to fend for themselves. Not terribly successfully, but they try. This little fella hunted around in the grass and found...

Ta Da!! A leaf. Not filling, but maybe useful someday when it has to build a nest. It'll get there eventually, but the journey to maturity isn't quite over yet. :)

The parent birds are working hard in the meantime...

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Photo of the day:

Her sister asked if she'd gotten a tattoo, and if so, why she hadn't been in on the party. I've been assured it's washable marker.

Edited to add: The photo of the feet is now "famous"--BBC published it in a series of reader photos of the theme "FLORAL"