Red-winged blackbird fledgling

[Carma Sue Henry]

A couple of weeks ago I had trouble id'ing a large sparrow-like bird with yellow on it's head and throat.  Several of you suggested it might be a female Red-winged blackbird.  Well, I can now confirm that it certainly is.  What I didn't realize, when trying to make my id, was that the one we saw was a new fledgling.  We've seen lots of young males over the years.  Their transition from fledge to juvenile to adult seems to take a full year and the feathering changes are fun and dramatic.  Until now, I had assumed the young females just don't change much as they mature.  And I'd never seen one that I could point to and say 'young female'.  But that small bit of yellow on their heads is really quite bright when the sun hits it.

Today we were lucky to see a mother teaching her young daughter (who still has some downy fluff, though you can't see it much from this angle) how to get food and water.  After a long lesson at the suet, the youngster made a stab at getting some on it's own before going back to having her Mom feed her.  Then she was led down to the largest of our water pans and shown how to balance on the edge to get a drink.  Surprisingly, she next jumped straight into the water for a nice, vigorous bath.  Mom kept a careful eye on her, bringing her a few more tidbits while she splashed around.  

We see a lot of birds bring their young in for such instruction.  This is our 10th summer here and the first time we've seen RWBs bring in their young.  I suppose this instruction usually takes place in the reeds and bushes around a creek or pond and not at a backyard feeding station.  We're above Frazier Creek and downstream from the Jackson Frazier Wetland.  Having the mother bring a youngster up here makes me wonder if the wetland and creek are drier than usual and not as able to provide training sites.

Carma Henry

Logsdon Ridge