I went out the back door this morning, and was about to walk down the steps, when I realized someone was watching me. Just in front of the last step, a baby bird was looking right up at me. I, of course, went back in the house and grabbed my camera. He (she?) stayed where he was, and when I came back, he was still just watching me. I think he was wondering if I had any more of an idea of what he was supposed to be doing than he did.
He is, judging from his mama, who has been watching him from a nearby tree, a baby Brown Thrasher. They’ve had a nest in one of the bushes next to the house. The bushes around our house seem to be a popular nesting place this year.
A friend of mine asked me how I’m getting so close to baby birds as to photograph them like this, without their parents getting upset. I have no idea. I am either nonthreatening or too terrifying to argue with? I suspect they are just used to us, and were before they built their nests next to ours.
It’s funny because, just before this, a rabbit was watching me watering with the hose. I’m starting to feel like Snow White or Cinderella.
How adorable! We have brown thrashers, too, but they are so secretive. They are always flying from one secluded part of the yard to another – never stopping so we can get a really good look at them, let alone a photo. They are such beautiful birds.
Yes, and they are so so quiet. Even the babies were quiet. The baby cardinals were peeping loudly for food every day, but these seemed to not want to draw attention to themselves. They were in the bush by our hose faucet, and the mama would fly out when you came near, but no sound. And the baby cardinal peeped while I took his photo, but this little one didn’t say anything.
Hi, love your pics, but wanted to let you know that this isn’t a thrasher, but a sparrow.
Thanks, Teri! They do look a lot alike, but what doesn’t show in the photos is his/her size, which was quite a bit bigger than a full-grown sparrow. He may not look as rusty-brown in the photo as he was either. Here’s a video someone else got of one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdGtxUgpdx8 He was so cute, and just a few feet from his nest, with his parents coaching him, but he just kept staring at me instead. I came back out later and he was gone, and so I guess he followed their lead and took some flying lessons. Really neat.