Fledgling K-3 at Cornell Red-tailed hawk nest. Just looking around and feeling the breeze.
K-1 shows up to keep their little sibling company for a while, and to do some gymnastics. First up onto the crossbar, but that didn't seem comfortable.
Carefully calculating a jump to the top of the railing.
The launch is a success.
After giving us a nice closeup from every angle, K-1 flies up onto the lights and from there to the platform above the nest.
Birb penthouse.
K-3 stays at the nest for now, and unknowingly has a photoshoot of their own.
Help this bird is so cute.
At
Royal Albatross cam, Tiaki and the chick next door came within touching distance of each other for the first time. Tiaki wandered closer first and started setting up a nest for herself to lounge around in. At this age the albatross chicks move around in the general area of the nest they (as far as they know*) hatched in, and build themselves little play nests in spots they stop at for longer periods. Still a lot of sitting down and waiting for parents, though. They're seabirds that after fledging will live out on the ocean and only return to land for breeding, so they're not the most agile on foot.
(*Albatross chicks can take several days to hatch after the first pip on the shell, and during that time are very vulnerable to fly strike, so when it's time to start hatching, the eggs in this carefully monitored colony of endangered birds are taken to artificial incubator to let them hatch safely, with a dummy egg left in the nest in the real one's place. Once the chick has hatched it's returned to the parents and the dummy egg is removed.)
The chick next door approached after Tiaki had started settling in, but though they're both just babies, apparently did not like having her neighbor on her turf, and clacked her beak at Tiaki. A back and forth of clacking ensued.
Tiaki backed off first and waddled back to her own nest.
After this fierce battle, eventually both chicks retreated to their own sides of the sprinkler hose and stayed there.
Tiaki looking like a cryptid made of fluff stretching her wings.
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