Down on my belly with
my chin on the ground, I inched closer like an
enormous but tentative
caterpillar to see a dim narrow hollow extending
back under the branch about one foot.
Shading my eyes, I waited
as they adjusted to the grass-filtered
sunlight.
Still, grayish-brown shadows in a grassy bowl
slowly became
recognizable as baby birds; baby Junco
hyemalis.
"Tiny!" I whisper to
myself as I realize my hand was bigger than the
nest bowl. The young bird
on the right still appeared to hold some
yellow-green insect larvae unswallowed in its
mouth.
Inching back, I slid my camera up in front of me on
the ground. I had to turn my head
sideways to peer through as I focussed and clicked
off a few pictures.
I modified this last shot
and discovered those yellow-green things aren't
insect
larvae at all! Those are the corners of their
little mouths! I wonder if that bright yellow
helps the parents find the young mouths more
quickly as their eyes adjust to the dimness of the
nest.
I was about six years old,
the same age as my first grade scholars,
when I first discovered a robin's nest in "my"
climbing tree. I don't know how
many nests I have peaked into over the years since
childhood, but I am still filled with awe and
wonder and my heart beats quickly as it did those
many years ago. I peer again into the eyes of
these
young Juncos and marvel at their lives begun in
this tiny crevice under a branch and last year's
grass.
Enjoy more virtual birding adventures linked
on the Photo
Essay List!
©J.Gilbert 7/2001
All photos and narratives
contained in this document and/or in the
Birds of Interior Alaska website were created by
and copyrighted to ©Jim Gilbert.
6/2001.