SEPTEMBER THEME - JUVENILES

[Stu Bowie]

September's theme will be showing the youngsters. Any chick, Juvie of any species will qualify, and if you can manage a fluff ball, all the better. Remember to have the prefix ' theme' before your title to be considered for selection.

August's theme of Its all in the eye is picking up nicely. Keep them coming.

Happy Shooting.

[Glenn Pure]

A quick clarification, Stu: are immature birds excluded or do you consider them 'juvies' too? There seems to be some mixed use of these terms and definitional inconsistencies in the bird world.

Cheers
Glenn

[Stu Bowie]

A quick clarification, Stu: are immature birds excluded or do you consider them 'juvies' too? There seems to be some mixed use of these terms and definitional inconsistencies in the bird world.



Hi Glenn, no problem to post immature birds. Immature, youngster, juvie, all acceptable as 'non adult' birds.

[Bill Dix]

Good question, Glenn. It is a subject of much confusion in common parlance. There seems to be some consensus that a 'juvenile" (a bird in "juvenal" plumage) is a bird wearing its first set of (non-downy) feathers, prior to molting into first adult set. This can be a few weeks for some songbirds, and into the late Fall, or even the Spring following the hatch-year, for some shorebirds. "Immature" can mean anything prior to full adult, including juveniles. Sibley uses the term 'juvenile" but doesn't define it well, but at least offers date ranges when using the term in illustrations. Here's an interesting article on the subject. http://www.birdfellow.com/journal/2013/07/30/a_juvenile_is_an_immature_but

Thanks, Stu, for wisely avoiding a strict definition of the term, giving us some leeway.

[Glenn Pure]

Thanks Bill and Stu. Good to have that flexibility Stu. I was aware of some of the different definitions. The latest Australia bird guide (Australian Bird Guide by Menkhorst et al), released earlier this year and certainly the most thorough and up-to-date book for field use has adopted the same definition you outlined Bill.

As an aside, and somewhat perversely, the Satin Bowerbird shot I posted last month for the 'Eyes' monthly challenge, is classified as an immature bird even though he is somewhere between 5 and 7 years old - this is how long it takes male Satin Bowerbirds to reach sexual maturity and moult into their full black adult plumage (this bird in my photo was just starting to do this moult as he had a few bits of black appearing on him).