Baby Birds And Their Parents

[Music] [Music] [Music] all birds start as eggs in nests but how they grow and go from those eggs to the air varies greatly from one kind of bird to another the eggs of Canada geese for example are usually laid in a simple Nest right on the ground near water only the female incubates or sits on the eggs to keep them warm her faithful mate stands guard nearby after a month the eggs hatch the baby geese or goslings are precocial precocial means that they're able to do many things for themselves without the help of their parents precocial birds hatch with their eyes open and are active and alert when the goslings break out of their shells they're down of soft fluffy feathers is wet but as soon as they dry out they're ready to go the goslings usually leave the nest the same day they hatch following their parents to water the baby geese float like corks they don't have to learn how to swim as soon as they hit the water they begin paddling around they also find food by themselves but the young depend on their parents for protection the adult s are big enough to chase away many enemies including perhaps a fox these youngsters now in their teenage stage will stay with their parents almost a year kild deer also hatch in a simple nest on the ground but since the adults are small they use a different way to protect their nest and young they try to trick enemies when a predator or enemy comes near the kilder leaves the hidden Nursery then some distance away it pretends to be hurt so the enemy will follow it away from the nest when all is safe the bird suddenly stops pretending it's hurt and returns to the nest baby green heron stay home until they can fly they are altricial or helpless altricial Birds depend on their parents for all their food fishermen admire the green heron skill back at the nest the Heron coughs up the fish it is caught and swallowed when the hungry babies grab the adults beak the young herens may seem to have have poor table manners but the system works ruby throated hummingbirds grow up in a walnut-sized nest fastened to a branch with spider webs the young birds or nestlings are marvelous sword swallowers though the parent seems to be Staffing the young it is actually coughing up flower nectar and insects deep into their throats baby birds have all sorts of homes flickers and other woodpeckers are nature's carpenters and hollow out holes in trees for their nests the adults share all the work from digging out the hold of feeding the young using the same sort of hammering motion for both jobs flickers would make good company on a picnic since they love to eat ants but it takes a lot of ants to fill up the nestlings each one can eat its weight in food every day the young stay in the safety of the nest hole about a month in future years the empty hole may be used by Screech ows scre owls nest in hold but can't make them however they're happy with woodpecker leftovers a young owl Waits at the door for room service the parents hunt for food and then deliver it too after four or five weeks the owls grow restless and leave the hole once out they rarely go back this friendly bird is a common sight under many farms barn swallows as their name suggests often nest in Barns originally the swallows nested in caves or on cliffs but now they prefer to plaster their mud and straw nests to buildings and since they eat insects the swallows are always welcome like Jack in the boxes the nestlings pop up to beg for food and like all altricial yard D the swallow keeps begging for food even after leaving the nest after all catching insects take some practice the morning dove named for its sad call works hard on its nest nevertheless the finished Nest is often rather flimsy construction is a family affair but each partner has its own job to do the female puts the nest together while while the male gathers the sticks and twigs many birds use whatever material is handy when they build a nest but not the morning dove the male inspects several Twigs before he picks the one he wants he usually takes his carefully chosen Twigs to the nest by the same route but luckily he doesn't always leave the same way he's found a good piece of grape Bine and he wants mother to be sure to find it the female lays two eggs which the adults take turns incubating the altricial young have an unusual diet for the first few days they're fed a material known as pigeon's milk which both parents produce in a special part of the throat called the crop pigeon milk looks like moist cheese but is not a true milk eventually the young will be weaned onto seeds and grain the attractive Nursery of the Blu gry knat catcher is like the hummingbirds though it is larger the young natat catchers are fed Often by the adults who are as active as the second hand on a [Music] watch sometimes when they feed they look like firefighters in a Bucket Brigade the nestlings drove quickly the crowded nest and the excitement of Meal Time caused one of them to hop out of the nest it will not go back again and is now a pledging these lazy looking young crows are also fledglings this means they have left the nest but still depend on their parents moving to some nearby Branch the fledglings rest exercise and beg loudly for food they also pren preining takes off the waxy sheet that covers the feathers and keeps the feathers in good condition in a short while the fledglings will take to the [Music] air this blizzard of birds is a nesting colony of turns when they nest these seabirds crowd the beach like sunbathers on a holiday sometimes they don't get along too well the turns seem to recognize the cause of their own chicks and keep track of them this way the chicks are a cross between precocial and altricial they're dowy and alert when they hatch but depend on their parents for food for several months a few days after hatching the young all run around together on the beach as if they find safety in crowds nevertheless the parents still find their own chips before Summer's end the Young Will Learn to Fly they will join Canada geese and the young of hundreds of other kinds of birds birds in the Airways each kind could have its own story to tell about its nest about leaving its nest and about its relationship with its parents happily no one story would be better than another because they all seem to work