Fledgling

So I was pulling weeds and flinging handfuls into the uncultivated chunk of garden under the trees, and I winged in a handful of chickweed and looked up just in time to see it land on top of this guy. (He is a Carolina Chickadee.)

I ran in and immediately excavated him. He was fine, but as he is a fledgling, still not a very good flier and couldn’t get out of the way. He sat and looked angrily at me while I took his photo. When I returned, he had scuttled off into the undergrowth.

(If you find a bird like this, eyes open and fully feathered, that is not injured, or not in immediate danger of being mauled by a cat or something, leave it alone. This is a normal stage of bird development and the parents are still feeding it while it wanders around and tests its wings. They know where it is.)