Sept. 2, 2012 - Juvenile Robins and some mammals

The American Robin is one of our most recognized birds. Many people can identify the red-breasted adult but fewer know this juvenile with its spotted breast. I found a flock of first-year Robins at a local park and they were in various stages of molting into adult plumage. This one is just starting to show some reddish feathers on each side of its breast.

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This bird has most of its adult, reddish breast feathers, but a few of the juvenile feathers still remain. A close look at one of those juvenile feathers shows that the spots on the juvenile’s breast are really the brown tips of the feathers. The back of its neck looks kind of bare because new feathers haven’t grown in yet. Molting is a gradual process that can take several weeks or longer and during that time the bird isn’t always looking its best.

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Here’s one of the juveniles that has almost completely finished molting. It looks like the head and neck feathers aren’t completely replaced, but all of the reddish breast feathers are in place. Note that most of the breast feathers have a white edge to them. This will wear off over the winter and the bird will have that “Robin Red Breast” look again.

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Here’s a little mouse that was scampering around on our deck. I think it’s a Deer Mouse but I’m not very good at identifying these small rodents. I can still think of it as cute when it is out on the deck, but that would change if it decided to come into the house.

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Here’s an update on our local Woodchucks. Junior (right photo) is now almost as big as Mom (left photo). We’re still seeing both of them so I looked back in my records; the latest we have seen a juvenile in previous years was the first week of July. That could mean Mom hasn’t chased the juvenile away yet, or it could mean that none of the babies from previous years survived this long. We often see these two under our bird feeders eating seed that has fallen to the ground. Neither Diana nor I can remember seeing Woodchucks do that before. In other years they have always been eating grass and other vegetation.

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Here’s a little stinker I found when I was out birding about a week ago. Skunks are mostly nocturnal so it’s kind of unusual to see one during the day. The grass was very wet that morning and you can see how wet the skunk’s fur has gotten. I did stay in the car and kept my distance while I took this photo.

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