My birding has been limited to what I can see out the window and at the feeders in my back yard and that’s been slim pickin’s. A few Anna’s hummers here and there, some House Finches, a scrub jay or two. Then yesterday, from out of the blue, a whole flock of LBJs (Little Brown Jobs) landed in my yard and I was absolutely baffled. I know all my yard birds and these were foreign to me. Streaked brown all over, these birds — easily 20 or 25 of them — were landing and climbing all over the place, up the jasmine vines, in the grapefruit tree, on the roof, in the shrubs, on the grass, in the fountain. They were everywhere. A dozen or so of them discovered the small saucer of water I keep on the patio and mobbed it, drinking furiously with more of them right behind and jostling for their turn, Who are these unknown visitors?
As I looked, every LBJ I know came into my head and was rejected — not finches, not sparrows, not anything I could think of. Coincidentally, a friend of mine called just then. He’s a photographer and avid birder. After he suggested every bird I’d already thought of and rejected, he then said the magic word that I hadn’t thought about: juveniles.
Chicks and juveniles are today’s topic here at Dawn Chorus. Can you identify common birds by only seeing them as chicks or juveniles? Let’s find out, shall we? (IDs appear at the end, so don’t scroll down and ruin the fun.)
Let’s start with these little guys:
How about this little one?
Two more babies:
Here’s a curious juvenile:
This little guy wants to be a grown-up soon:
Can you see the two chicks in this nest?
These little cuties were strolling down the shoreline on their own and mom was nowhere to be seen.
This little fella is eager to try out his wings:
When this one grows up, those stripes will be gone except one that is the key to its identity.
These fluffy babies aren’t far from their mom who I cropped out of this photo to emphasize the chicks. Aren't they cute?
More fluffy babies! Who are these guys?
I suspect many birders will quickly ID this little one because it looks so much like the adult. They key question is which one of the two species that come to mind since the main distinguishing characteristic of the adult isn’t yet formed?
It won’t be too much longer till this little guy grows up and is full of happiness. (That’s a clue.)
So how do you think you did with your IDs? Some of them are pretty difficult, for sure, but I included them to give you the opportunity to challenge youself. I’m going to show photos of the adult birds for each of their offspring shown as the mystery birds.
Ready for the answers?
Mystery birds #1
Whether you got the species correct or not, you at least identified this pair as ducklings, right? Give yourself a point for that. Give yourself another point if you correctly identified them as Mallards.
Mystery bird #2
This one was tough. If you haven’t seen the chicks before or even the species itself given the habitat where you live, you might be stumped by this one. If you identified it as a shorebird at least, give yourself a point. If you correctly identified this spindly fluff ball as a Black-necked Stilt, give yourself another point.
Mystery bird #3
I’m sure you correctly guessed once again that these are ducklings, so give yourself a point for that. Give yourself another point if you identified these cuties as Wood Ducks. I can’t distinguish the male from the female with these chicks, but the adult shown below is the very colorful male.
Mystery bird #4
Another tough one, I think, if this bird isn’t found in your area. Give yourself a point if you knew it is an oriole. Give yourself another point if you identified it as a Balltimore Oriole. The bill shape on orioles is a good indicator of ID.
Mystery bird #5
This little guy seems to be practicing looking menacing. If you guessed that this is some sort of hawk, give youself a point. If you correctly identified it as a Red-tailed Hawk, give yourself another point. Here is an adult Red-tailed Hawk pooping for some extra flair in the photo.
Mystery birds #6
I’ve seen quite a few of these youngsters over the years. Many birders are stumped when they see these because they look nothing like their parents at this early stage. But all that streaky brown goes away and they become their true selves. If you guessed some sort of heron, give yourself a point. If you correctly identified these are Black-crowned Night Herons, add another point.
Mystery bird #7
Those cute little yellow fluff balls may look like ducklings, but in fact, they are goslings. No points if you guessed duckings. One point if you guessed goslings. And another point if you guessed Canada Geese.
Mystery bird #8
This little fella trying out his wings is adorable. Can you guess what he will grow up to be? If you could only ID him as a shorebird, don’t feel bad and give yourself a point for knowing that much. This is a tough one. But give yourself another point if you correctly identified the American Avocet chick. Here is a photo of a chick (left) with parent.
Mystery #9
This little water bird is a delightful mish-mash of colors that really distinguishes it from other similar birds. If you knew that this is a grebe, give yourself a point. Add another point if you correctly identified this cutie as a Pied-billed Grebe. Here’s a photo of mom and chick. That stripe on the adult bill is a distinguishing characteristic.
Mystery birds #10
Another tricky group of birds with these chicks. If you guessed some sort of ducklings, nope, no points. If you guessed swans, ding, ding, ding. Give yourself a point. We don’t often see swans, so it’s understandable if this one stumped you. Harder still is the correct ID. If you guessed Mute Swans, give yourself another point for being awesome at bird ID!
Mystery Bird #11
These gangly little tufts of feathers with giant bills will grow up to be one of the largest birds that are common to areas where water is widely available. Not exclusively a shorebird, give yourself a point if you guessed something in that broad category. Give yourself another point if you gussed it’s a heron. And give yourself another point if you correctly identified these chick as Great Blue Herons.
Mystery bird #12
This bird is truly a juvenile as you can tell from seeing that it’s almost grown, The only thing needed to complete this teenager’s growth is to see its adult coloring come in. It’s almost there, but not quite. Birders who know that junior here is a grebe, give yourself a point. But which grebe? There’s a very fine distinction between the Clark’s Grebe and the Western Grebe. The distinction between the adult birds is that the black caps they develop will stop above the eye in the Clark’s and inclusive of the eye in the Western. When you look at the juvenile in the photo, you can see the gray area near the eye which will turn black is inclusive of the eye. This bird is thus a Western Grebe. If you guessed Clark’s, give yourself a point anyway for being so close. If you guessed Western, give yourself two points for nailing it!
Mystery bid #13
This little cutie with the speckles on him will grow up to be one of many people's favorite birds. I gave you a clue about this bird in adulthood being one of happiness. If you caught that clue, you'd know I was talking about "the bluebird of happiness." This little speckled juvenile will grow up to be the Western Bluebird. Did you get this one? Give yourself a point if you did. Also, if you guessed Eastern Bluebird, give yourself a point since both species are nearly identical.
Now, before you count your tally to determine how you fared overall, there’s one more bird you can idenify for bonus points. That bird is the one that appears in the title photo for today’s Dawn Chorus. This bird was captioned simply “Mystery bird.” Did you know right away what is is? If so, add five points to your score as a bonus. Here is the bird again, the one that I said were flocking my my backyard everywhere and I had never seen them so I was clueless.
I should have immediattely known what this bird is because of that black bill and black eyes. But because I’d never seen a juvenile of this species and because the size of the bird made me think it was an adult, I really missed this one altogether. It never occured to me that it was a juvenile until my friend on the phone suggested that maybe that’s what I was seeing.
In case you, like me, didn’t immediately recognize this bird, here are a couple more clues:
Since the mystery bird has a long and sordid history of laying its eggs in other birds’ nests so that those other birds are tricked into feeding and raising the chicks as their own, you may have guessed by now who this young bird will grow up to be:
The Brown-headed Cowbird!
So the lesson from today’s Dawn Chorus simply that the next time you see a bird you can’t readily identify, ask yourself if it could be a juvenile. You may be surpised!
How did you do? Please use the comments to share how well or how poorly you did, if you’re so inclined. Or use this edition to share your bird siightings, thoughts, photos, comments, or anything else birdy that you may wish to share.
I hope you enjoyed the quiz. The floor is open!