On Tuesday I heard a sound in Schenley Park that I didn’t recognize: a melodious call from a baby bird.
I found the bird flutter-climbing from a low perch to a high spot in a tree, moving fast and begging the entire time. He had downy tufts on his head, a striped chest, big feet, short wings and an almost non-existent tail. He looked a lot like the bird pictured above.
I couldn’t identify the fledgling so I waited for his mother to bring food and she solved the mystery. A bird just like her is pictured below (from Wikimedia Commons).
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If you don’t recognize her, here’s another clue. The father bird looks like this. (I didn’t see him that day.)
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Obviously scarlet tanagers change a lot as they grow into breeding adults. Read more about them in this vintage article from July 2008:
(photo of fledgling by Chuck Tague. photos of adult female and male from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals)
Can raccoons count? Last night a raccoon, trailed by her 4 babies, came up from the woods. So cute. They were headed for the bounty at my bird feeders. I wanted to show my husband, who was indoors, without making any stir, so I used my cellphone. Unfortunately raccoons CAN hear quiet voices, and mother and two of the babies hightailed it back to the woods.
Two were left behind, nonchalantly munching birdseed. I waited, but mother never came back. The babies prepared to spend the night in my flowering crab tree. So, can raccoons count? Does she know she’s lost two? Will she come back for them, or are they orphans? Someone was there during the night, because my hanging feeder was pulled down this morning.
Yes, I know about (not) feeding raccoons. They are so cute, but they bring all their friends and relations. Once years ago, when I DID feed raccoons, I ended up with 27 of them snacking and squabbling on the patio. Do not feed raccoons. You’ll be sorry.