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Baby Birds Gallery—Fuzzy Photos You’ll Love

June 11, 2025
A brown and beige fluffy chick falls through the air.
A Hooded Merganser duckling makes its first brave leap from its nest. Photo by Steve Furcich / Macaulay Library.

As spring turns to summer, one of the delights of birding is happening upon young birds. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to watch busy adults bringing food to hungry chicks still in the nest. Other times we catch sight of fuzzy birds fresh out of the nest, their feathers looking just a little too big for them, as they hurry to learn the basics of flying and perching.

Some of Our Favorite Baby Bird photos

Seeing baby birds in the wild is a treat—so we’re grateful to the many eBirders and bird photographers who share their shots with the Macaulay Library archive for the rest of us to enjoy. Here are some of our favorites.

A young, fluffy bird holds onto an older bird of dark green and brown with a long, sharp bill, long, yellow legs, and yellow eye.
A still-downy Green Heron chick isn’t ready for its parent to leave just yet. Photo by Kayann Cassidy / Macaulay Library.
A small, white, fluffy chick with long, yellow legs, stands next to a plant.
A tiny Piping Plover in Illinois. Photo by Max Kelly / Macaulay Library.
Juvenile eastern screech owl looking directly at the camera.
This Eastern Screech-Owl in Canada is still wearing some of its juvenile down, but its eyes are already at adult intensity. Photo by Suzanne Labbé / Macaulay Library.
A green-gray patterned bird with white facial markings at its nest full of 4 chicks.
This Blue-headed Vireo in North Carolina has four hungry mouths to feed—all wedged into a delicate nest on a slender branch tip. Photo by Emilia Deino / Macaulay Library.
A gray and dark brown bird sits in the leaves with a fluffy, orange chick under its chin.
An Eastern Whip-poor-will chick in Rhode Island takes shelter—and camouflage—underneath its protective parent. Photo by Megan Gray / Macaulay Library.
3 young brown an white birds perched on the side of a concession stand
These hungry Barn Swallow chicks are ready for a fill-up from their parents. Photo by Laure Wilson Neish / Macaulay Library.
Adult sandhill crane standing beside its fluffy chick on the ground.
This baby Sandhill Crane looks like it’s just getting its legs working. Photo by Matt Felperin / Macaulay Library.
Two adult king penguins standing beside a fluffy chick.
King Penguins tend their tubby chick in the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. Photo by Patrick James / Macaulay Library.

If you love being surrounded by baby birds, you might enjoy our NestWatch project. NestWatch’s All About Birdhouses website can give you all the information you need to build and put up a birdhouse of the correct size for any common cavity-nesting species you may want to attract in your area.

There’s also a wealth of information on ways to protect birdhouses from predators and keep the inhabitants safe from the elements. With NestWatch you can also track the progress of nests, whether in birdhouses or in natural settings—and the information you record helps scientists better understand patterns of nesting birds.

About Baby Birds

The Cornell Lab

All About Birds
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American Kestrel by Blair Dudeck / Macaulay Library