Where Dr Redzlan Abdul Rahman lives, in Raub, Pahang, Malaysia, the Eurasian Tree Sparrow ( Passer montanus) is one of the very common birds around. His 12 year old son, Muhammad Firdaus Redzlan, is so attracted to these sparrows that he regularly feeds them with rice grains. Is it a wonder then that these birds are always around their backyard? And this gave them the opportunity to document the adults feeding their fledglings. In the above images, the adult is shown on the left and the fledglings on the right.
The adult birds would pick up the grains scattered by young Muhammad and fly to their begging fledglings. The former then carefully place the grains into the gaping mouth of one of the two fledglings while the other would wait patiently for its turn (left). Note the prominent yellow oral flanges that line the bill of the fledglings and the reddish interior of their gapes (top right). These no doubt help the adult birds to zoom in with the food.
These fledglings are all the time hungry and begging loudly to be fed.
Images by Dr Redzlan Abdul Rahman and his son, Muhammad Firdaus Redzlan.
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