The baby sparrows on top of the Wilkinson Luggage store sign fledged (left the nest) a couple of days after I wrote about them. Good thing, too, because the Wilkinsons left Main Street, and the old shop is being refurbished. But there are still newly-fledged sparrows around town, begging Mom and Dad for tasty snacks. I watched a baby getting lunch in a park for a few minutes: mouth open and wings flapping, babies cheep incessantly for the parent to stuff bugs and things in their mouths. You can click here for a close up of wing-fluttering goodness. Note that different species of birds beg slightly differently, although incessant cheeping is usually involved.

Or, you can click here for one of the most amazing collection of baby bird pictures I've ever seen. Roy Beckham of eFinch.com has taken some wonderful pictures of very young finches with their mouths open, begging for food. Mouth markings probably help parents find their chicks' mouths in a dark nest. They also help aviculturists identify different species, since the markings are unique to each species. The babies in these pictures haven't fledged yet, and are still mostly pin feathers. Any bumpy yellowish bits you can see around the necks of these birds are their crops, filled with food that their parents have regurgitated for them in the past half hour or less.