Nova Scotia’s hatch year birds – Birds, Barks, Beyond

Hatch year birds are confusing as they include two plumages, juvenile and immature. Juvenile plumage is the first set of downy feathers, and the immature plumage comes in shortly afterward. The immature plumage is the first real set of flight flight feathers a bird has, and it will likely look completely different after it’s first molt as an adult. For birds that come to Nova Scotia to breed, like our visiting Wood Warblers, the immature plumage will carry them to a warmer climate in the Fall when they leave us until next Spring.

Either way, the field guides can’t show you everything and there is a definite lack of photos showing newly fledged / hatch year birds so I will try to build a little library of them here from my own photos. It’s going to take me a long time, probably years, but that is half the fun…

Black-throated Green Warbler