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Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Folksy

When an Oak Titmouse flew into the water bath this morning, Eric looked up and wondered about the intensity of the blue color of its legs and feet.  I glanced over and a second titmouse landed close by, which made both of us wonder what was going on.  Most of the time, when titmice visit our water bath, they come one at a time.  



These two titmice seemed a bit "'folksy"—  very comfortable with each other — and not nearly as skittish and in-a-hurry as titmice usually are.  Given their behavior, we realized that these might be juveniles.

Not long after that, one of them flew to a nearby tree and started wing-quivering and giving insistent begging calls.  Soon an adult flew in with insects and fed the juvenile.

I was struck by how hard it was to tell the juveniles and adults apart by appearance alone.  With very close views, I could see that the juveniles had pale yellowish gapes (the innermost portion of the bill):



Then I read that the juveniles also have indistinct (hard-to-see) buffy tips to the upperwing coverts, and more filamentous feathers under the tail:


This titmouse family spent quite a bit of time in our yard this afternoon.  It was a fun opportunity to learn more about one of our common backyard birds.
 

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful photos! Thank you.

Alexandra said...

Haiku for tiny Titmouse-

Fresh, soft grey fringed plumes,
ready to be Oak Titmouse!
newly hatched this spring!!

Alice chan said...

That juvenile "Feed me! Feed me!" behavior always makes me smile. Thank you so much for these photos today.