Hi, Dan.

Fledgling is one of those words that to me have always been hard to define precisely. Furthermore, I've never been able to pin down the time during which a young bird is a fledgeling. Obviously before a bird leaves the nest it's unlikely to be a fledgling. Many altricial birds leave their nests about the time they can fly, and then they do fly. Those are surely to be called fledgelings. But for how long? I doubt if there is a straight answer for that.

Birds such as owls confuse the picture even more. They leave the nest and hop/flop/flap around the nearby branches (when they are called "branchers"). I suppose they could be called fledglings, but they can't really fly yet, and the origin of the word relates to words for "to fly." But I think an owl that flew 150 feet had certainly fledged. The interesting thing still to me is when it stops being a fledgling.

So fledging is just as loose to define as fledgeling. I would say it was when young altricial birds were able to fly away from the nest. Can't say whether flying 1 foot or 100 feet makes any difference. Webster's New World Dictionary defines it thusly: v.i. to grow the feathers necessary for flying; v.t. to rear (a young bird) until it is able to fly. So the parents have fledged their fledglings when they finally fledge. Yikes.

You may have noticed I spelled that word two different ways, and you may have thought "he's getting sloppy in his old age." You're probably right, but in this case both spellings are correct.

Dennis

On Apr 7, 2011, at 1:05 AM, notcalm at comcast.net wrote:

> Hello Dennis,
>
> I have recently been observing Great Horned Owlets.
>
> Help me understand how to use the word fledge. They both did much stationary flapping and branching for a few evenings/ nights. A few nights ago, I watched the oldest, somewhat larger, probably female take its first several flights (25- 150 feet). How would I describe this? The owl fledged? I watched the owl fledging? The fledge made several flights? The fledgling made several flights? When exactly is it termed fledgling? Could you please use the terminology in several sentences to help me learn appropriate uses? Has it fledged as soon as it has left the nest tree for the first time? What if it returns for the day?
>
> Tweeters people would probably find your answers interesting- feel free to cc them.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20110407/91e21017/attachment.htm