Urban birds don’t have it easy, so it’s always nice to see signs that chicks are thriving at BBG. Enjoy these photos taken by visitor Ann Feldman and staff members Travis DeMello and Lee Patrick.
A hungry robin in its nest in the Native Flora Garden in late June (above). Its mother was likely away hunting for earthworms and insects when the photo was taken.
The red-tailed hawk chicks that hatched in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden this spring have fledged. All three have been seen flying in the vicinity of their nest and towards Cherry Esplanade in the past few weeks. Here one has have landed to eat a meal provided by the mother.
One of the young hawks relaxing after after its meal. Adult hawks feed their young for weeks or months after they fledge as they teach them to hunt. These siblings are currently keeping their parents very busy and frequently cry for food, sometimes immediately after being fed.
This juvenile robin was photographed in late May in a Japanese snowball shrub near the Rock Garden. American robins can produce three broods per year, but only about a quarter of fledglings survive through November.
An earlier photo of a different robin’s nest, this one in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. These eggs have since hatched and the young have left the nest.
