On July 23 we found a young yellow-throated vireo baby on the ground under an
old maple near our home and heard a second one nearby. We thought it must have
fallen out of the nest that was up high in the tree since it couldn't fly and
had difficulty moving about on the ground. The next morning we heard a baby
calling from a viburnum bush next to our window. We were happy to see a tiny
vireo perched about 2 feet above the ground and later saw a parent feeding it.
By afternoon we saw it fly about 30 feet to another shrub, then later it was
calling about 40 feet from that with a parent fussing nearby. So all is well so
far with one of the babies and hopefully our vireo will nest near our home
again next year.
It appears that the behavior of jumping out of the nest may be instinctive,
possibly to distract predators from finding a group of youngsters together. It
does expose the youngsters to other dangers inherent in flying/jumping
individually from bush to bush, but undoubtedly provides flying practice.
Margaret and Bill Dunson
Galax, VA
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Yellow throated vireo adult feeding young at farm in maple tree 7.24.15 Bill Dunson IMG_8317 bb.jpg
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Attachment:
Yellow throated vireo fledgling farm 7.24.15 Bill Dunson IMG_8310 aa.jpg
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