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.