![\"mountain](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/mountain-bluebird-7101-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt’s the time of year for chicks and fledglings at Montana’s Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.<\/p>\n
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1\/800\/ f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM\u00a0 + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In yesterday morning’s gloom and fog I found two Mountain Bluebird chicks in the deep grasses of the lower lake campground at the refuge. One was a day or two younger than the other and neither could fly though both had obviously left the nest so I’m not sure if I should call them chicks or fledglings. This is the slightly more mature of the two birds.<\/p>\n The parents were coming in to feed them and this\u00a0slightly older youngster kept trying to hop\/fly\u00a0up to a fence railing less than a foot off the ground in an apparent effort to make itself more conspicuous to its food-bearing parents but it couldn’t even fly up that far. The younger bird stayed\u00a0deeply buried in the\u00a0grasses and barely moved in the few minutes I was there.<\/p>\n It’s a mediocre image because of the fog\/low light and the out of focus vegetation in the foreground but I think it’s always interesting just to see young birds at this stage of development.<\/p>\n I couldn’t help but smile at their stubby little tails, huge gapes and curious expressions.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s the time of year for chicks and fledglings at Montana’s Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.<\/p>\n