Educate Yourself about Bird Growth and Independence
Bird growth and independence
Almost all birds that are newly hatched (called nestlings) will need their parents to brood them at all times because they are weak and not able to hold their own body temperature. As helpless as they are as newborns, they will quickly gather strength, and be able to be left alone for longer periods of time. This time will be the most hazardous one for these inexperienced birds, especially when their parents are away gathering food.
Birds like the quails, gulls, and coots will have their young ones leave the nest almost immediately after hatching. But birds like the woodpeckers, the pigeons, all of the songbirds, and bird of prey will hatch in an almost helpless state, and stay in the nest until they are ready to manage the art of flying. All birds will also remove the fecal sacs of the newly hatched birds to keep the birds’ safe, and the nest clean and proper.
When the nestlings are first born they cannot see or even direct their brightly-colored gape, so they raise their heads and open wide when there is vibrations of the nest from the parents landing on it. The parent will simply then pushes food into the for ever hungry mouths, but once they have opened their eyes they will respond to the sight of the parent and direct their open beaks towards them. And as always the fittest nestling will always get the bulk of the food being delivered.
The brooding will continue during the night and during bad weather until the nestlings are well on their way to be fully developed. Now it will be the male’s turn to put in lots of time and hard work of gathering food for the nestlings, especially in bad weather, since the female has done most of the nest building and most of the incubation.
The males will mostly gather food like spiders, snails, moths, worms and other delectable insects and invertebrates. Vegetarian birds like the finches also provide their young ones with animal food, since this food has a rich content of fluids, and nutrients that young birds need to grow healthy, strong bodies.
There are birds like the Florida Scrub Jays, the American crows, and the Acorn Woodpecker that have their last years nestling assist in the feeding and protection of the new nestlings. Over half of all the Florida Scrub Jay pairs are assisted by previous broods which are also willing to defer their own breeding for years.
Now the nest is almost bursting, the nestlings have grown feathers and are at just the right size to start practicing flying. It is important for the nestlings to leave the nest as soon as possible because they are vulnerable to predators attack when confined to the small nest, and will hopefully have a greater success of survival in the wide open.
Their fledging time is determined on their different living conditions which various between species. Generally birds that are raised in open cup-shaped nests have the ability to take flight sooner than birds that are raised in soil burrows, and rock or tree cavities. Fledging time can also depend on if there has been a large food supply or scares one that year, and also on the number of mouths the parents had to feed.
Once the fledglings have left the nest, they will still sit close by, in a secluded place like a dense shrub or hedge, and patiently wait for the parents to bring them food. They are not quite ready to fly, but are easily recognized by their parents as their tails and wings still has a stumpy look. The fledglings of songbirds still have their recognizable bright patch of skin around their beak which is a remnant of the nestling’s open-mouthed gape.
As all the fledglings start growing more feathers, they will start to get more confidence, and get a more secure feeling about their instinctive flying skills. Parents cannot teach their young ones to fly; they can only help them practice to perfect their flying skills.
Soon they will start following their parents which will save the parents the effort of constantly trying to locate their young ones to bring them food. If you ever have the chance to watch a pair of parent grackles foraging on a lawn, you almost feel sorry for them as they immediately have to turn over their catch to a hungry young grackles mouth.
Independence from a parent will differ considerably from each spicy to another, a swift fledgling will grow independent from the moment it starts flying, while the Great Owl’s young ones will receive food from their parents for three months or more after leaving the nest.
Unfortunately many of young fledglings will die after they have left the nest, and this will especially occur during food shortages and extreme weather conditions. They are of course an easy prey, but also have to constantly compete with older birds which are always dominating the best feeding areas.
There was a study made in San Francisco on Song Sparrows, and the results were not very encouraging, since they came back showing that of the 100 eggs laid, that were studied, and only six of these birds were alive a year later. Sadly enough the study also showed that only four birds were alive a few years after that.
Go to our section on Bird profiles to learn more about incubating and fledging times.
