rose-breasted grosbeak

rose-breasted grosbeak

baby begging for black oil sunflower 

seeds from papa's beak

We've had a lot of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks this summer. In May and June the adult males and females squabbled over who got to perch on the bird feeder. But today, in mid-July, there's only one lone male attending to his single baby. The mother is nowhere in sight, but maybe she's feeding the other fledglings. Anyway, it's great to see birds sharing child-rearing duties. 
          The baby is all brown and white, with a lovely spotted breast, similar to the adult female. Can't tell whether it's a male or female, but the baby looks bigger than its father. Baby has learned to fly but not how to feed. It sits on the fence rail, waiting impatiently while the father gobbles black oil sunflower seeds from the feeder, cracking and extracting the soft inner seeds with his large blunt bill. Finally, the black and white bird with the rosy breast flies to the fence and lands next to the his big brown baby. Baby wags its tail, squats down and opens its beak, and the father stuffs a white seed down the baby's throat. This scene gets repeated over and over, until, for some reason, the baby flies up to the edge of the roof. Amazingly, the father knows just where his offspring has gone.