In Our Yards

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Another young bird turned up in our yards yesterday: a juvenile Northern Mockingbird. You can tell it's a juvenile by the spots on its breast, and by the yellow around its mouth.

I thought the juvenile was alone but then I noticed a parent was fussing around on a fence just a few yards away. 

A little later, a male Northern Cardinal brought one of its offspring to our feeders. Unfortunately, I missed getting a shot of the juvenile.

As the light was fading, we heard an odd chirping from our back fence. I looked out and saw the noise was coming from a young Carolina Wren.

The parents have been escorting this young Wren around our yards for several weeks now, never letting it out of their sight. However, this time the juvenile was clearly on its own and not happy about it. Even though it chirped loudly for some minutes, its parents never appeared. So it looks like they may have decided it's time for this youngster to leave home.

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