Fledgling

The fledgling period is often the period of highest mortality in a bird's life: inexperience at finding food, avoiding predators, and navigating to roost sites makes newly independent birds highly vulnerable. Many species have cryptic juvenile plumage that reduces predation risk. Post-fledging parental care — including food supplementation and predator alarm calls — extends for days to months depending on species. Fledgling survival is a major driver of population trends and a key metric in breeding productivity surveys.