It’s All About the Kids

Summer tends to be a rather slow time for birding at Theler, but there are lots of birds there all the time; it’s just harder to see them this time of year because no one is advertising for a mate and parents are busy tryingI(t’ to feed their young and don’t have time to sit around posing for visitors.  So, on this trip we mostly saw juveniles, which are sometimes/always  hard to identify.

I could tell from their behavior and their beaks that this was a pair of young mergansers, but I have no idea if they’re Common Mergansers or Red-Breasted Mergansers.

I am pretty sure this is a juvenile Song Sparrow because of  the breast plumage and where I saw it, but I also know that a lot of juvenile sparrows look alike.  

This one, for instance, looks rather similar and was in the same area, but the yellow eyebrows make me think it’s most likely an immature Savannah Sparrow.

This guy was on the same railing near the immature sparrows, but I am almost-absolutely sure that it is a Barn Swallow because it looks like one and, more importantly, because there was a parent guarding nearby.  

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