Baby birds my photos, my words

Bird photography in late spring and summer can provide an observant photographer opportunities for "family" photos.

For instance, tracking a bird carrying a worm or insect can lead to shots of babies being fed in the nest. Or ignoring a parent bird hovering over your head can lead to shots of fledglings testing their independence.

Then there’s the Brown-headed Cowbird, whose young look nothing like the birds seen feeding them. That’s because female cowbirds don’t build nests, even though they produce more than three dozen eggs a summer. They lay eggs in nests of other birds that get stuck raising them. I have a photo in this collection of a male Common Yellowthroat feeding a much larger immature cowbird, but I’ve seen sparrows and other birds stuck in the same scenario. The fledgling cowbird is often much larger than the adult stuck feeding it, and it is the source of a seemingly never-ending “feed me” cry. The stress on the adult bird is obvious.

I once spent time watching an adult Song Sparrow try to escape from a fledgling cowbird. The sparrow would fly suddenly from tree to tree, entering one side before quickly leaving the other and ducking into the underbrush of a field. The cowbird followed every move.