Baby Robin. Yes, I used a flash, it was cloudy, on the dark side, and baby was deep in the pine, so I opted for flash rather than super grainy from high ISO. All photos are 1500 x 996, click for full size.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
It’s covered in spots! There’s some leftover baby-mouth on this one, too, and also some adult plumage showing through.
(You say it was deep in the pines, but that’s still an awfully suspicious eye looking back in the last picture…)
Striking a pose for the camera!
See the branch the bird is sitting on, and think about the pattern and colours on the chest. Also tiger.
I like the different head positions.
Oh, there was a clear line of sight, and we weren’t all that far from one another, about 20 feet (6 meters), but in deep tree shade. That heavy belly streaking is how you identify the babes and juveniles, those go away when adult feathers come in. This one was venturing to the deck, but easily alarmed, as mum and dad were nearby, keeping an eye while grabbing mouthfuls of suet for the new nest of young ones.
About avian head movements, I saw today a gull tilting its head sideways, left and right just like human whose neck and shoulders tired/hurting.
Lovely. My wife and I raised a baby robin once. She named it Christopher, of course.