Monday, July 8, 2019

Water Pipeline at the Restoration Pasture-farm is now operational! Alder Flycatcher Nestling image ID

So in the last blogpost I posted the baby fledgling photo I took. I was skeptical that it was the actual biological baby and not a "brood parasite" since I had seen a cowbird hanging out due to the "utility cut" newly put in this past fall by the local utility company.

But the above photo makes me think that the big baby could be an Alder Flycatcher. As far as I can tell - that is the species. It did not make the "free beer" call but it did make calls as heard online.

So here is the Willow Flycatcher. This is a close overlap with the Alder Flycatcher - they were considered the same species until recently. Supposedly the Willow Flycatcher is not in northern Minnesota....



OK so the above Willow Flycatcher babies photo has me convinced that what I was seeing really is a Flycatcher Fledgling!

Once again the baby fledgling photo I took this morning.
Fledglings are feathered and capable of hopping or flitting, with toes that can tightly grip your finger or a twig. These youngsters are generally adorable and fluffy, with a tiny stub of a tail.
 As their name implies, hatchlings are baby birds who have only very recently hatched out of their eggs.
  Nestlings are older baby birds who still aren’t quite ready to leave the nest.
 OK so I guess it's a Nestling. But it does look like it's HOGGING the whole nest like the below cowbird nestling:

So that's a Cowbird Nestling hogging a Warbler nest. So I can not RULE OUT that the nestling is a cowbird or not - but I think I did see immature juvenile flycatchers flying around.

OK now what was the Warbler I saw this morning?

A Common Yellowthroat male!




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