First Flights

First Flight
While we have many, many birds walking and spending time on the ground in the Colvin Run Habitat, it is rare for them to lay on their bellies and have their wings extended. That behavior is a good indicator that we have a young bird taking its first flight, when it basically jumps out of the nest and glides to a nearby branch or to the ground.
Although not positive, I believe that this first bird is an Gray Catbird, which is a rarely seen resident of the Habitat. This young bird spent about a minute on the mulch then got enough strength to fly (third photo) into the nearby dogwood tree.

Robin Chick Leaving Nest

Look very, very carefully at the fourth photo and you'll see a robin still in the nest. From the amount of activity, it was clear that this bird wanted to fly, but just did not have the necessary skills.

While I was photographing, he managed to get up and stand on the edge of the nest (last photo). While this made it much easier to photograph him, he still lacked the skill or courage to take to flight and actually leave the nest.