For most seabirds, the process of reaching fledgling age is fairly straight forward. Once an egg hatches, parents begin foraging at sea, bringing back food to the awaiting chick either as complete items in a bill load or a regurgitated soup, until the chick grows to roughly adult size and develops flight feathers, somewhere between 40-50 days later. At that point, the plump chick is cut off from meals, and motivated by a growing appetite, leaves the nest to find food and is considered fledged. Murres, on the other hand, have adopted a different strategy. Instead of bringing food to the chick, they bring the chick to the food. Fathers rear their young at sea. The thick-billed murre chick in this photo is about ten days old. It's been listening to the call of its father, and can recognize his unique signature. In less than a week, still unable to fly and a third the size of its parents, this mini murre will leap from the steep cliffs, navigate the chaos of the surf zone, listen for its father's call waiting on the water, and follow him out to sea. For murres, the real world happens fast.
Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM + 1.4x, ISO-800 f/5.6 @ 1/1000 sec.
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