Photos 2

August 18, 2005 2:51 p.m.

Time for cute pictures of chicks.

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(Photo by Brian) Freshly hatched, sometimes with their egg hat on when the crew comes to check on them. That last one probably emerged within the next 24 hours, unless it was a dud.

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(Photo by Brian) They're so...pink and stout. And already begging for food. Those fuzzy strands running down their back are their first feathers (natal down). Over the next few days, the gray feather shafts, from which the actual feathers grow, will begin to emerge along the body.

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Nests are built near ground level, not in trees. They're about the size of a cupped hand, which makes it a wonder that up to four chicks can be crammed together in that space. This and the next photo are of two-day-olds.

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Although considerably developed at hatching, chicks' eyes don't open until four or five days afterward. Their bulging sockets, plus the translucence of their skin, give them the appearance of space aliens.

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Four-day-old chicks. Feather shafts emerging! And eyelids visible! Oh, the miracle of life.

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(Photo by Brian) I don't know how old these chicks are...five days? Their eyes and wing feather shafts are well-defined, but they're still mostly wrinkly-skinned and pink. The viscera are still showing through their abdomens, too.

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These are six-day-olds, which are nicely covered with shafts and emerging feathers. They're the subjects of the banding photos (see below).

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(Photos by Brian) The next several pics are of chicks that are at least seven days olds. They start getting that grumpy, rebellious look around then. Then again, maybe that's because they don't like being taken out of the nest to pose for photos.

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Brian also took these two photos of fledglings, which are chicks that are old enough to leave the nest. They have enough mobility (and feathers) to scatter away and, eventually, fly short distances from the nest.

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But they still need to be fed by the parents. (The male stops singing for two weeks to help feed the fledglings. This behavior ruined more than one of my playbacks toward the end of the season.)

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After my trials were done for the day, I followed Kate and Ben around and took some extra photos. Kate's checking nests in the back of the plot here, with the blue flagging hanging above.

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Chicks are banded at seven days, when their legs have grown enough to hold the bands, so those six-day-olds (see above) were banded the next day. That's Kate and Ben getting ready to band and collect various measurements.

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A color combination is selected, and the bands are slipped onto the legs and tightened. The aluminum band next to the black one is numbered and issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

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The bill and tarsus (lower leg) are also measured.

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Finally, the chick is weighed and a blood sample is collected. If a fecal sample happens to be provided too (as it is here), it's also collected for a later analysis of its contents.

Pictures from the NC site next!

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