the.com/nestlings
the loudest, neediest tenants in the animal kingdom, and rent is always due in worms.
means baby birds that are too young to leave the nest, still naked, blind, or feather-fuzzed and fully dependent on parents for food and warmth.
from from nest plus the diminutive suffix ling, meaning little one of the nest, tracking the same pattern as duckling and gosling.
eyes closedmost hatch blind and featherless entirely
gape reflexopen mouths wider for brighter, redder targets
growth speedsome songbirds double weight in days
feeding frenzyparents can make 1000 trips daily
for instance
barn swallow chicks — fed roughly every 20 minutes for two weeks straight
altricial robins — leave nest around 13 days old, still flightless
megapode exception — hatch fully mobile, never truly nestlings at all