GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
tags: birds, American Robin, Turdus migratorius, Image of the Day
American Robin, Turdus migratorius, with hungry nestlings in NYC's Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
More below the fold regarding how this image was captured.
The photographer writes: This picture is from my almost-too-cute-for-words file. It may be another one of those ho-hum-here-go-again photos of nestlings but how I got this shot will always stay with me.
I was standing on a sloping boulder on the far northwest edge of the Ramble in Central Park when I heard the nestlings yelling quite close to me. I turned toward the sound to discover I was nearly eyelevel with a very exposed nest less than fifteen feet away. I took a photo or two after which one of the parents arrived to feed three nestlings. (You can only see two but there was another one in the back that was having a hard time competing with its siblings).
When the adult left the nestlings fell silent and snuggled back down to await the next course. They did not have to wait long. A minute or two later the three popped up and started yammering again. I realized that the kids knew a meal was on the way long before I could spot the deliverer. Listening to the nestlings gave me time to get ready to take my next photo.
This process was repeated a couple of times and I expected it to continue the same way but then one episode puzzled me. The nestlings popped up and began to vocalize signaling a meal was near but neither parent arrived.
I scanned the area but saw nothing until out of the corner of my eye I saw something on the rock at my feet. One adult was standing inches from my shoe with a gooey beak full of I don't know what. The bird stood for a while then leapt up to the nest and promptly deposited the goo into the open mouths you see in the shot.
As a new birder in Central Park I quickly learned what prolific breeders American Robins are and how they often seem to ignore the humans but I never encountered one that was so blasé about my presence as was that particular bird.
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Comments
Ah, gaping robin maws -- that sure brings back memories!
When I was (much) younger I worked for a while at a local bird rescue facility. We had all sorts of baby birds which had fallen from their nests, and were picked up by well-meaning passersby who were convinced that their parents had rejected them, or would reject them. Of course, by the time they showed up at our door there was no telling what nest they had actually come from, so we just kept them and fed them. And fed them. And fed them. And fed them. Every few hours, days on end, stuffing chopped up earthworms and mealworms into gaping little beaks...did anyone mention that baby birds smell fairly peculiar? Well, they did to me, anyway. I think it was about then that I settled on my profound gratitude that I had not been born a bird, even though I would have liked the flying bit.
But it was really cool when they fledged, and you could start to teach them to fly. You felt like you had accomplished something, then.
Posted by: Luna_the_cat | September 11, 2007 4:52 PM
If photoshop were used to enhance the image, could you call that polishing a turdus?
Posted by: Aerik | September 11, 2007 9:20 PM