I don’t think Philip’s comment
has quite got to the heart of the confusion. There are two separate
meanings attributed to the verb ‘fledge’ : (a) traditional: to acquire flight
feathers (b) recent ‘scientific’: to
fly from the nest. So far as I am aware, the noun ‘fledgling’
is used only in relation to sense (a) ie applying to a bird that has acquired
flight feathers but not yet left the nest. The best word for a bird that
has left the nest is perhaps ‘juvenile’. Were it otherwise
there would be no end point to ‘fledgling’, which would become
hopelessly confusing.
Clarity is not promoted by asserting that
one sense or the other is correct. Anyone using ‘fledge’ in
any of its forms should clarify the sense in which they are using it.
From: Philip Veerman [
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006
5:27 PM
To: Pedroanddi
Cc:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Active
wedge tail eagles nest?
It is actually a nestling, not a fledgling. As it is
obviously from your description still downy, and more to the point has not left
the nest yet (at which point a nestling becomes a fledgling), see recent discussion
on this. I can't comment on what species it is. Both our eagle species have
white down.
