Baby birds

Baby robin   ©Janet Allen

We have baby robins and baby wrens active in the yard. The robins are from the nest in our arborvitae next to the driveway, and the wrens are from our nest box along the back fence.

The robins are pretty quiet. They sit there just waiting for the parents to come. The adult robins also seem to be pretty quiet. All in all, this is the way I'd do it if I were a bird.

The wrens, on the other hand, are all full of chatterings. The little group travels among the trees and shrubs in the front and side yards, announcing their presence. This must work for them since their populations in the East and Central parts of the US are going up according to the Breeding Bird Survey, although the population according to the Christmas Bird Count is going down. I got these figures from the first edition of the Stokes Field Guide to Birds (my favorite field guide). The guide, though, is 15 years old, so the situation might be different now as it is with so many birds. Birds are in trouble!

By the way, this photo was captured by having to patiently sit for quite a while (sitting on a quickly-snatched compost bucket) when I spotted this baby. Getting good bird photos requires much more patience than I naturally have, but it's worth it to try to capture a good image of these appealing creatures.