Fledglings at the patch

The usual Saturday morning visit to the Sculcoates patch. June can be regarded as a 'quiet' month bird-wise. The wintering birds are long departed, now in their summer grounds, busy breeding, whilst all the summer migrants have settled in their territories and are nesting. No new birds expected in the patch, but that doesn't mean that a visit won't pay dividends. I'm very keen to show which birds are breeding in the patch, so I've got my eye on fledglings and other signs of breeding, like adults carrying food. 

Fledglings

Fledglings can be a bit tricky to identify as on first appearances they look like the adults. There are several identification tips that will help get your eye on them. 

1) Fluff. Many fledglings look 'fluffier' even bigger than adults. This is partly because they have a newly grown plumage - in contrast with the battered adults that have been working very hard and might have started moulting themselves. The other reason is that they are much more relaxed, still naive about predators, relying on parents to keep an eye on danger and the feathers are not pressed against the body. 

2) Behaviour. They behave differently, curious about their surroundings, lacking a fixed purpose, pecking here and there, or watching. Adults this time of year are very alert and or busy looking for food. 

3) Gapes. Song birds fledglings have yellow gapes, which are visible for a couple of weeks after they leave their nest. The inside of the mouth can be visibly different. In Carrion Crows, the inside of the mouth is pink in fledglings, but this might be hard to see in other species.

 4) Plumage. In some species some plumage features are distinct. Starling fledglings are brown, Goldfinch ones lack the red mask of adults, Robin ones lack the redbreast, Bullfinches lack the black cap. In thrushes, including Blackbirds, juveniles are more spotted or speckled than adults. Others are just subdued versions of adults, like Blue and Great Tits.

5) Calls. Many fledglings have distinctive contact calls. Blackbird's are very distinctive 2-note ones, and the screeching calls of young Starlings and tits are also good way to spot them. Other fledglings have simple calls, and when a whole bunch of fedglings are scattered inside some bushes, their regular alternative calling makes it feel like there is a single one calling from different spots, making them quite hard to locate.

A Blackbird fledgling.

My highlight of the day: a Goldcrest fledgling on the cycle path. I heard a Male singing by the wildlife garden on my way to the patch, and that was the highest breeding evidence I've had in Hull before for my BirdTrack lists, so this little cutie made me very happy!

Note the lack of gold and black crest.

Fledged Long-tailed Tit.

The first Moorhenlings of the year at Sculcoates.

And a Goldcrest fledgling feeding on brambles.

There were several families of Great Tits about, but I didn't manage any photos.

The Temple Street butterfly patch was being razed to the ground and fenced off.

On the positive side, the aggregates 'hill' by the cycle lane was looking amazing this morning, a riot of colour of various annual plants have carpeted the soil, a male Bullfinch and some Goldfinches were feeding on sawthistles

Bullfinch.

A female Blackbird doing some litter picking.

Crow feeding on a pigeon. I wondered if the pigeon had died after colliding with the fence.

A roadrunner, new bird for the patch!