A Tale of Three Birds: Chapter Three: the Fledgling

Monday’s walk was along the edge of some local woodland.  Suddenly, there on the path in front of me, I spotted … a fledgling.  A tottering, tumbling ball of fluff, cheeping plaintively and stumbling uncertainly on its large ungainly clawed feet.

I knew enough not to interfere and attempt a rescue, but this little foundling upset me and I felt guilty leaving him to what I assumed would be certain death – especially when, heart-wrenchingly, it tried to follow me.  Was the robin perched in the branch above its parent?  Later, paging through bird books, I decided not.

Back home, Google was my friend.  This article from the RSPB assures me that the parents were probably practising tough love, and beginning the little bird’s preparations for an independent life.

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

35 thoughts on “A Tale of Three Birds: Chapter Three: the Fledgling”

  3. Definitely not a robin, but what a sweetie. The size of those feet suggest a bird of reasonable size too. You did the right thing of course, but let’s hope hard that it’s parents were there to rescue it.

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    1. So do I. I’m hoping one of my readers may have an answer, or possible one. Actually, the feet may not be as large as you think. It was a smallish bird.

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  7. What a cute little baby bird. It would be interesting to know what it is. You did the right thing leaving it – can only hope it was left alone by other people and of course by predators. Thanks for the reassuring link. You may remember a post I did some time back on a baby sparrow that left the nest too soon – in this instance I was able to see a relatively happy ending and how the parents coaxed the baby to climb up a tree to safety and where they continued to feed it. https://naturebackin.com/2018/02/09/bird-parents-to-the-rescue-the-day-the-baby-sparrow-fell-from-the-nest/

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    1. Hmm. A friend has just told me it’s probably a pheasant chick, and that its mum is probably a hopeless case who will not bring many of her brood to adulthood 😦

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    1. Haha! We do llamas and alpacas round here, but not ostriches, so far as I know. See my reply above about its probably being a pheasant chick with a negligent mum 😦

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  11. oh dear, how we are programmed to want to see happy endings. From the comments I fear the balance of probabilities are against one here though as you say we shall never know, another thing that doesn’t fit well with our programming. Meanwhile a very special photograph of this superbly striped bundle of fluff on huge feet (I know they’re claws but anthropomorphism dominates again!)

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