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Backyard Mystery Birds

By Julie Zickefoose

Along with watermelon, blueberries, and local strawberries, mystery birds are one of the specialties and joys of early summer. They’re the birds, indistinct in color, devoid of clear field marks, that show up in our backyards seemingly just to confuse us. Most you’ll encounter are simply newly-fledged juveniles of common backyard breeders. Here are some tips for solving the puzzle of their identities.

Juvenal plumage

Everyone’s familiar with the spotted breast of a young American robin. I often wish they’d keep this ornate plumage longer, but by late summer brick red feathers have crowded the black spangles out. Juvenal plumage serves as a social signal to other robins, perhaps defusing aggression. The speckled robin is but one example; fledgling bluebirds have a similar plumage that spangles white stars over their heads and backs. Other juvenal plumages are less striking. Most are toned-down versions of the adult female plumage, and many field guides don’t depict them. Woodpeckers are a special case. They hatch naked, skipping the down phase altogether, and soon sprout feathers that closely resemble their parents.’ Young male downy and hairy woodpeckers sport speckled red forecrowns that proclaim both their sex and their youth. Young females look just like a cleaner, whiter version of their mothers.

Whatever the species, juvenal plumage is softer in texture than adult plumage and sometimes appears rather loose. Colors are muted, and streaks and wingbars are blurred. Many young birds appear barred, because the edges of fresh feathers can be lighter than their bases. Watch for telltale bits of down adhering to the ends of emerging feathers. You’ll see baby house finches wearing filmy perukes of down that look like little horns atop their heads.

Soft part coloration

When birds hatch they sport what I call “clown lips”—fleshy pale flanges to the gape that, along with brilliant mouth linings, stimulate their parents to stuff those gapes with food. Even after fledging, many birds retain a vestige of swollen gape flanges that will tip off the careful observer that the bird they’re looking at is newly minted.

After the gape flanges recede, bills and legs are usually paler than those of adults. Baby cardinals, on the other hand, have black bills that slowly redden as the summer wears on. Bird eyes often change color as they age, as well.

Vocalization

Part of being a newly-fledged bird, from robin to owl, is keeping in touch with your parents. Most songbirds have a juvenile dependency period that averages around two weeks. During this time they stay concealed, uttering contact calls that let their busy parents know where to deliver the groceries. These are usually reedy chips, difficult to locate, sounding at once close and far away. Baby cardinals and orioles take vocalization to new heights, pippering away so lustily that at times they drive me to distraction. The rule of thumb for vocalization is: If it’s insistent, monotonous, and seems to come from the same place for long periods, it’s probably the call of a fledgling.

The company they keep

The fail-safe way to identify a mystery juvenile is by the company it keeps. Let’s say you’ve located a dingy ball of fluff, chipping away in a shrub. It’s dull olive, with a hint of wingbars, but utterly unidentifiable. Get your binoculars, withdraw to a good distance, focus on the baby, and wait to see who comes to feed it. You may be rewarded with a good look at an adult blue-winged warbler!

Cowbirds, the orphans of the bird world, can throw us for a loop. Not only are they pretty generic-looking, but the parent that shows up to feed them can be anything from a vireo to a warbler to a sparrow. Once cowbird fledglings are independent, they may wander around feeders, looking for other cowbirds to consort with. They’re a pale mocha-brown, with a whitish throat. The tipoff, though, is the dark, stout, conical bill.

Behavior

As I write, the bird chorus outside my window is punctuated every half-hour or so by the light bonk! of juvenile downy woodpeckers on the windows. They aren’t hurt, just surprised, and they return again and again to discover this hardness of sky in their path. Though they’re well-protected by twirling FeatherGuards, and no other bird has hit them for weeks, the windows are irresistible to baby downy woodpeckers. It’s all part of the exploratory behavior that marks juvenile birds. Watch for stuttering flight and clumsy landings. Young birds will also pick up anything that might prove edible, and you’ll see them mouthing rocks and bits of grass as they figure out how to forage. Watching new fledglings figure out the ways of their world ranks up there with hot buttered sweet corn for summer pleasure.

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