Teaspoon the Juv. Spoonbill has fledged, here is a photo of him being fed my his mom. I have learnt so much about Spoonbills since he/she hatched, the amazing patience of his mom, the commitment to look after her youngster while the rest of the flock moved off, even Teaspoon's dad moved off with the group, just Teaspoon and his mom stayed on in the 'Far away Tree' a huge Tulip Poplar in my garden.Teaspoons mom is an amazing mom, she stood over him with her wings opened to shelter him from the boiling hot sun, the pouring rain and brought him lots of food. She made strange little "seagull X frog croaks" announcing her arrival in the big tree where teaspoon lived.
I watched her as she started coaxing Teaspoon out of the safety zone of his nest, she did not land in the nest with his food, she landed at the end of the branch, eventually after some hysterical begging calls Teaspoon realised that if he wanted some food he had to go to his mom, so he ventured out along the branch, flapping his right wing as he moved out of his comfort zone. As soon as he finished feeding he scurried back to the nest, flapping his wings wildly as he made his way along the branch.
Soon after that first adventure, I watched him, his mom was away getting food, being an adventurous kid he took a little flight from the nest to the end of the branch, where he waited until mom arrived with food. Then all too soon, he was following mom around the garden, she landed in a tree on the other side of the garden and let him know by her very strange croaks that she was around, he took off and found her, had his fill and flew back to his nest. Today he has been flying around, down to the dam, around the garden and even ventured into the pastures with the Hadeda Ibis.
I wish you well Teaspoon.....
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