Chirps and Cheeps

I happened to look up from my computer this morning to see two, young Scarlet Tanagers sitting on a pine bough outside my office window.  Since Scarlet Tanagers are insectivores, they weren't looking for anything from the wide variety of seeds, suet, jelly, and nectar we offer, but maybe they were lured by all the bird activity and came to see what all the hubbub was about.  Or maybe they were drawn by the sound of the water fountain and thought they'd take a dip.  Either way, it was a lovely visit and I was glad to have gotten a couple of photos of them!

In addition to a couple of adults, we've been noticing a young Ruby-throated Hummingbird coming around lately too.  This guy hasn't figured out where to get the nectar from yet; he probes the red seed feeder, the orange jelly dispenser, and the red cap to the saflour seeds.  I read that the young ones will probe at anything to find nectar and those who figure it out will survive.

Apparently, parent hummers don't show their young foraging or survival skills, which I find amazing. And in this species, adult males have nothing to do with the incubation, feeding the mother as she sits on the nest, keeping the naked babies warm, or feeding the babies at all during the next 5-6 weeks while they're still in the nest. Any and all parenting is left to the female.  For such a tiny, little bird, they don't get any breaks and must be hardy (and smart) to survive!