We had a fledgling. A hungry one, from the sound of it. He was carrying on, flapping his wings, and chirping his head off. Mama appeared worried.
So did these guys.
There was even a tubby red-bellied guy who was hovering around in concern. But mama was on the job.
And another one to show you the lovely colors on her head. (The blue is clear, but there's also purple.)
In the neighboring backyard, this bunny was not at all amused by the sound.
Neither was I. After spending some time photographing them, I finally took my laptop inside.
It's interesting to note that a lot of birds came to the fledgling's call. My husband, who was working on our greenhouse, said a different type of bird brought the baby food at one time. It seems with birds, it takes a village.
Unless they're birds of prey. Different kind of story.
Now for some links.
Accepting Submissions:
Sirens Call Publications has an open call for their bi-monthly e-zine Tales of the Supernatural. 300-2500 words. Also accept poems and drabbles, plus artwork, photography, and literary reviews. Pay unknown. Deadline August 1.
Cohesion Press is taking submissions for Snafu: Future Warfare. Military/sci-fi/horror. 2000-10,000 words. Pays $.04AUD/word. Deadline August 13.
Mother Jones Magazine takes hard-hitting, timely content. 1500-5000 words, depending upon article type. Must send proposal. Pay not specified.
Fine Linen Magazine is looking for all genres of stories. 200-700 words. Currently reading for the Autumn issue. Pays $.05/word.
Garden Gnome Publications is looking for tales of local legends. 321-1234 words. Pays $5 flat fee.
Prolific Press has a bundle of magazines accepting poetry to short fiction. Rather than post each one separately, I've linked to the page that has links to their different publications.
The Tishman Review is seeking micro-fiction, flash fiction, short stories up to 8000 words, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Pays on a sliding scale from $10-75.
Third Wednesday is seeking poetry and short fiction (no genre fiction). Up to 1500 words. Rolling deadlines. Pays $3-5 and a contributor copy.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies is looking for literary adventure fantasy set in secondary worlds. Up to 10,000 words. Pays $.06/word.
Middle Planet is looking for short stories, comics, and non-fiction. They lean toward speculative fiction. Pays $30 per piece.
Any of these of interest to you? Seeing fledglings around? Have you ever seen a bunch of different types of birds supporting each other? Anything to share? Publication news?
May you find your Muse.
26 comments:
That little fella is so sweet! Nature is so awesome. Hope you get some writing done. Thanks for the links!
We have a wide array of wild life around our house. The racoons are a hoot and messy.
Wonderful, I love to watch them too! Great pictures!
Thanks again for the links!
I've never seen different types of birds supporting each other though I have seen groups of birds harassing hawks.
Susan Says
Aren't you glad you don't have to feed babies that way.
Some great shots, Shannon. That's really odd the other birds were feeding him as well.
What a sweet story. I once found a fledging facing a cat on our driveway. I scooped the baby up and ran to the computer to find out what to do next. Tupperware with holes and cotton it said. Then put that bird inside and find a safe place near where you found it. Sure enough. As soon as I put the Tupperware in the branch, Mom came and took over. Cat lost on that one.
I love these pictures! And I really love that other birds came and fed the loud little fledgling :)
Mama Bird is pretty! I love her colors. Last month I actually rescued a baby Mourning Dove that had fallen out of its nest. I kept it overnight and looked out for the parents. I even put it back where it had fallen (in a box...because I couldn't find the nest) but Mama never came back. So I brought him to a Wildlife Sanctuary.
I think the birds were so kind to the little baby bird. Awesome pictures.
That is one beautiful bird! Thanks for the links :)
Great pictures of the whole episode. That happens here once in a great while where all the birds suddenly go nuts. I do think it's cool that they look out for each other.
I love those pictures! It's so fun to watch nature at work. There are some geese at the pond by my apartment, and it was so fun watching them grow up. Sadly, they went from six to five to four goslings, and now, not quite two months after I met them, they've gone from tiny fuzzballs to real geese with only a little bit of down left on their necks.
I did get some done, despite the distraction! Plus, I got a bunch of pictures. Win-win.
Though we have raccoons around here, I haven't really run into them. Which is odd, considering the other wildlife I see.
I wasted way too much writing time waiting to take those picture (I kept having to wait while she went hunting for food), but it was worth it.
The birds around here band together to give my cat a hard time, too. I went outside one day because a magpie was being really loud, and there's my cat, huddled on the steps, with two magpies over her. I looked around and we had nine birds of four different species. And they just kept coming. It was like a scene from The Birds, so I made her go inside.
More glad than I could say. And it's not even about the vomiting or holding a worm in my mouth. If my kids had looked at me, shrieked and stuck their open mouths in my face, it would have driven me crazy.
I've never seen it happen like that before. I guess when you have so many predators around, you have to band together?
I kept my cat inside until I could confirm two days later that the fledgling was gone. It wouldn't have stood a chance. She was NOT happy with me. Ah well. The internet is a boon sometimes. As a kid, I thought we couldn't approach the baby birds or their mothers would abandon them. Not so.
I was worried at first that they were being predatory, but they weren't!
I'm glad you were able to save it! This mom obviously wasn't even going to consider leaving her little fledgling.
They really were! It was a cool thing to see.
She just looked black at first, but I loved those colors once I was able to see them. I wasn't sure I'd be able to catch them on film since she was moving so fast.
I'm glad I'm not the only one living on the set of The Birds!
Aw, but it's fun you got to watch them as they grew. It's amazing to watch the fawns here as they grow.
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