23 Tuesday Jun 2026
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Is this not the sweetest little Robin you’ve ever seen?
I simply can’t walk past a juvenile Robin without stopping to say hello.
Though their feathers look nothing like those of adult Robins – no red breast to be seen, they already act like adults: confiding, curious, bobbing their heads and flicking up their tails.
And so, of course, I had to stop, pull out my camera, and take far too many photos while this sweet young Robin posed like a professional model.
11 Thursday Jun 2026
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It’s that time of year when all the young fledgling birds are out and about, following their parents and siblings through the trees, begging for food, learning to forage, constantly calling to stay in contact with each other.
Though it’s often difficult to spot the individual birds now that the foliage on the trees is so lush, it always make me smile to hear them and, occasionally, one bird will pause briefly in the open so, if I’m quick, I’m able to grab a few photos. This juvenile Long-tailed tit recently provided me with just such an opportunity.
02 Tuesday Sep 2025
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Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Chiffchaff, Collared dove, fledglings, juvenile birds, long-tailed tit, robin, Stonechat, young birds
I feel like we haven’t had enough birds on here lately so let’s take a look at some of this year’s juveniles …
There are quite a lot of young Chiffchaffs flitting around the trees and bushes now, in the throes of making their first migration flights south for the winter, though, with the warming climate, many Chiffchiffs also now over-winter in southern parts of Britain.
This was the first juvenile Collared dove I’d ever seen and it was probably the fact that it was a juvenile that made it much less wary of this photographer’s lens than its parents would’ve been.
Though it hardly seems possible to be more adorable than an adult Long-tailed tit, I think the offspring outdo their parents in the cuteness department.
Likewise young Robins, which are even more endearing and much less feisty than the adult versions. And I do think their juvenile plumage is very attractive too.
This little one was my first juvenile Stonechat of the year, spotted last week at the local country park with an adult male. These birds will also be in the process of moving from their more northerly breeding grounds to warmer winter climes.
15 Sunday Dec 2024
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Seeing chicks and juvenile birds is always a delight, and I’m sure I’m not alone in spending hours watching their fluffy cuteness, and being entertained by their awkward antics as they discover the world around them and learn now to find food for themselves. And, of course, they feature often in this blog.
During 2024, we’ve seen Moorhen chicks (like the little cutie shown above) (First chicks of the year, 30 April), followed fairly quickly by a double dose of Great crested grebe chicks and Mallard ducklings (More chicks, 4 May). Just a few days later, goslings were the stars of the show (Canada goslings, 7 May), and then not one but Eight cygnets stole our hearts on 18 May. In June, there were Hungry noisy Blue tit babies, and the annual saga of the breeding attempts of my local Lesser black-backed gull chicks (Sad news, good news, 13 June), and a circuit of Cardiff Bay produced Canada goslings, more Lesser black-backed gull chicks, and the lovely Oystercatchers (Chicks of Cardiff Bay, 22 June).
A walk along Cardiff canals in late June offered close views of gawky little Cootlets that still had a bit of growing to do before they resembled the juvenile Coot shown above and a bundle of fluffy Mallard ducklings (Chicks of Cardiff’s canals, 27 June). The final blog of the bird breeding season was published in mid July when the plaintive cries of a Herring gull baby attracted my attention.
17 Tuesday Sep 2024
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Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Great Crested Grebe, juvenile birds, juvenile Great crested grebe, juvenile plumage
This year’s Great crested grebe chicks are now at that awkward teenage stage, no longer the cute chicks they once were but also not yet the elegant adults they will become.
The two above are quite fluffy still, and their black-and-white head stripes remain very obvious, whereas the juvenile bird below, which must have hatched earlier, is beginning to lose its stripes, and its body plumage resembles much more closely that of an adult. By the end of the year, all three will have moulted into their adult plumage and all traces of their babyhood will have disappeared.
05 Wednesday Jul 2023
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As I was standing perfectly still and silent in the thick of a copse of trees and shrubs, staring at leaves and insects and leafmines, the small flock of juvenile Long-tailed tits moving through the greenery, foraging for tiny insects, didn’t notice me, which meant I was able to get a few photos of these adorable wee youngsters.
27 Tuesday Jun 2023
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Among the many frazzled parents and demanding fledglings I’m seeing around me during my daily walks, I was delighted late last week to spot a family of Blackcaps feeding in a nearby tree. Though the youngsters were attempting to feed themselves, they were also following their parents very closely, watching what they were finding, hopping over quickly to beg for whatever delicious titbits might be on offer.
15 Wednesday Jul 2020
As I was walking down a narrow country lane last Sunday, I was delighted to come across this family of Starlings – Mum, Dad and several juveniles – perched in the tops of the hedgerow that bordered the lane.
Young birds are often more trusting than adults but, in this case, the whole family was content to sit and chatter and poke about in the bushes, so I managed to get a few reasonable photos.
To me, juvenile Starlings are a bit like the proverbial ugly duckling – they start out quite plain but develop into exceedingly beautiful birds. As you can see, these young ones are just beginning to get their magnificently iridescent adult plumage.
23 Tuesday Jun 2020
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Blackcap juvenile, Blue tit juvenile, British birds, juvenile birds, Long-tailed tit juvenile, Pied wagtail juvenile
As opportunity and luck have allowed, I’ve been taking photos of this year’s juvenile birds. This first photo, of one of a couple of young Pied wagtails, was taken about a month ago, on a walk alongside the River Ely. The two fledglings looked very young, quite exposed and vulnerable, and the parents were nowhere to be seen. I only saw the young birds this one time.
Juvenile Blackcaps look like the female of the species, which also wears a brown cap, as opposed to the black cap atop the males’ heads.
Blue tit young are very cute, following along in the trees and bushes behind their parents, constantly peeping for food and learning to forage by watching the adults as they gather tiny insects to feed their noisy offspring.
Long-tailed tit chicks are probably the cutest of the common young birds, I think. This one kept poking its head into that curly leaf below it, searching for tiny insects. Sadly, the photos I tried to capture of that were all blurry.
10 Sunday Sep 2017
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, dunnock, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Greenfinch, Grey heron, juvenile birds, robin
I hadn’t been to Forest Farm for a while but, when I heard some rather nice fungi had been found, I was there like a shot (more on that tomorrow). And, of course, whilst there I had to spend some quality time with the lovely birds that can be seen in this beautiful nature reserve at any time of the year. Now, in early autumn, there are a lot of young birds, and they’re always fun, and hungry, and often quite confiding.
