The subject of this weeks Show me a photo contest in the Feathered Friends community is fledgling.
Luckily @nelinoeva also posted the description of fledgling in her post:
A fledgling is a young bird that has its feathers and is learning to fly.
Synonyms: chick, nestling, young bird
@nelinoeva/feathered-friends-show-me-a-d4aa88cfb6e9b
I recently took a lot of photos of little goslings, but I had already posted them, so I wanted to show something else. I did have to go way back in my archive to find it.
This is the fledgling of a blue footed booby. It does have feathers although they look more like wool then feathers.
Boobies usually lay two or three eggs and the incubation period is 41–45 days. They use their remarkable blue feet to keep the eggs warm. Usually only one or two eggs hatch.
When they grow up their webbed feet wil turn blue by the carotenoid pigments obtained from their diet of fresh fish.
I really love these goofy looking fellas!
