If you have been listening in the woods, or even in your backyard, you have probably been listening to a lot of singing—bird songs, to be exact. Spring is the time of courtship for most species of birds. Warblers, thrushes and sparrows, just to name a few, are singing away.

Now that we are into summer, many examples of spring courtship can be seen and heard in the form of young birds in the nest about to fledge, or birds that have already fledged. Today, I even saw some fledgling ruffled grouse. Many young birds at this time look little like their parents; they may not get their adult plumage for a couple of years when they become sexually mature. Bald eagles are a good example of this. It takes them five years to get the characteristic white head and tail that are the hallmarks for this species.

Many of these young may appear awkward on their first flight, and they may end up landing in some awkward spots. They are many calls fielded by wildlife rehabilitators involving some of these young. Most of the time, the young get themselves out of their would-be predicament themselves. If you see a young bird seemingly in distress, stay back and watch. A lot of times, the parents will come by and “encourage” it to fly or otherwise extricate itself from its predicament. If you think the young bird is injured, you can contact a wildlife rehabilitator; they can help you with whether you should intervene or not. For PA, a list of rehabilitators can be found at www.pawr.com. For NY, visit www.bit.ly/NYwildliferehab.