30 Birds When They’re Babies Versus All Grown Up
There’s a reason why the cute baby animal pics scene is dominated by mammals like kitties and bunnies, but you don’t see a lot of baby birds. It’s because most of them have some serious awkward phases (with the exception of ducks and chickens… they seem to be blessed with looking cute in their baby pictures.) Where do you think the tale of the Ugly Duckling comes from? Apparently, it takes a while to grow a majestic and functional coat of feathers, and they can look pretty silly in the meantime.
Scroll down to see some impressive bird glow-ups. We bet you didn’t know what at least a few of these birds looked like as babies. Upvote the ones that surprise you the most!
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Cardinal
Everyone loves seeing cute, red cardinals outside their window. They're so popular that they have been designated the state bird of seven states in the US: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Looks like this guy had permanent bad hair... sorry... feather days in his childhood. Cute fellow nonetheless
Peacock
Technically, only the males of this species are peacocks, while the females are peahens, and all of them together are peafowl. Also, technically, a group of them is called an "ostentation" or a "pride", but we probably won't remember either of those rules.
Tuffted Puffin
Puffins' feet and beaks only turn orange during their spring breeding season. Conveniently for them, that's also the only time when they come ashore, so we only have photos of them looking their best.
Pigeons are an unusual case because, even if you live in a city and you see more pigeons than you can count every day, you’ve probably never seen one tending to a nest with baby pigeons in it.
That’s because the feral pigeons that live in cities all over the world are descended from rock doves, which put their nests on steep rock faces, or in caves. Urban pigeons carry on this behavior by nesting on roofs, under windowsills on tall buildings, and anywhere where absolutely nobody without wings can find them. If you hadn't thought about it until now, that's proof that they're good at it.
Pigeons stay safely hidden away until they’re at least 40 days old, and then they come out with a shiny coat of feathers just like their parents. Good for them, it looks like it’s less embarrassing that way.
Grey Crowned Crane
The grey-crowned crane, one of the flashiest members of the crane family, lives in south and east Africa and is the national bird of Uganda.
The upper photo is a baby crane indeed, but the bottom one is a little egret.
Toco Toucan
The size of a toucan's bill can make predators think that it isn't worth trying to catch one, but it's so light and delicate that it's not actually useful for self-defense.
Chicken
It only takes 21 days for a fertilized chicken egg to form a fluffy little chick like this one, but it takes a lot of work. A hen turns the egg over at least 50 times a day so it can remain in the center of the egg and grow normally.
Goffin's Cockatoo
If you haven't had any kind of cockatoo as a pet before, you probably didn't know that they produce dust. It keeps their feathers clean, but does the opposite for the bird owner's home.
Peregrine Falcon
Falcons can be trained to be bird security guards and keep other birds away from places where they could cause trouble, like landfills or vineyards.
Chaffinch
Chaffinches are some of the most common singing birds, but maybe "singing" isn't the right word, as they actually have at least 9 calls with consistent and discrete meanings.
Hummingbird
Most of hummingbirds' functions happen too quickly for humans to even perceive: their wings flap at least 50 times per second, their heart rate is about 20 beats per second, and they can stick out and withdraw their tongues 20 times per second while feeding.
Pileated Woodpecker
Woodpeckers' disporportionately long tongues wrap around the skull, like a tape measure.
Golden Pheasant
Golden pheasants are native to the forests of China, but they've been imported and formed feral populations on every continent but Antarctica, because everyone wants some golden pheasants, I guess.
Gannet
Tit
Mississippi Kite
Grey Headed Albatross
I would like an outfit in all those colors, and the grey would be velvet!
Bald Eagle
Gentoo Penguin
Flamingo
Turkey
Note: this post originally had 57 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Fantastic gallery :D It's amazing how some of the birds change totally when grown up :D
Why the hell are there stupid sex spam posts everywhere??? Pleas fix them!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
❤ do you mind being mastur︆︆bated together?❤ write me here ✅✅==>> ︆︆v︆︆.︆︆︆︆ht/HVnZp
ive encountered so many of these birds. guess im a chick magnet ;)
Bored panda please stop shortening the lists! If someone is bored mid list then they can move on but are missing out on so much if the list is shortened and don't click on the extra images!
"Note: this post originally had 57 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes." this is written after 30th photo. if you click on the "57 images" you can watch them all ;)
I couldn't agree more! If you don't jump on the post right away most of the things are gone! I'm here to see it all, and read the comments. @BoredPanda please let us read the full post!!!
Is it too much trouble clicking on the link to see the full post? I think the way it is right now is a neutral solution for both sides: if you want to move out after seeing the best 30 pictures that's fine; if not, you can expand the post. It's not complicated...
They did this because some people didn't like having the whole list as it was too big.
They can stop at anytime...no one is making them stay on the list...
Regardless what you may call all of them. They are all still dinosaurs, or what's left of them.
well, at least these birds can't eat people... (though some might eat people if there a chance of it)
My childhood and present pictures can also be apt addition here. Plain to presentable.
Some of these birds looks stunning, and there are many more out there this list did not mentions like kingfisher, painted bunting, blue grosbeak, summer tanager, rainbow lorikeet, galah cockatoo, red lory, crimson rosella, Hyacinth macaw, Quetzal, Hoopoe, Bird of Paradise, Lilac Breasted Roller, Splendid Fairywren, Anna’s hummingbird and more...
Adorable chicks! Never thought that some barely got any feathers when they were born.
thank god for bird puberty!
When God was handing out beauty he went overboard when he got to birds - they are all stunningly gorgeous!! <3
very nice gallery but i would've enjoyed seeing more bird breeds that you can own, like an Indian ringneck parakeet, galla cockatoo, conure, macaw, etc
I raised Zebra finches for several years. New hatchlings are really not cute. They hatch completely helpless, blind, mostly naked, all mouth and (ahem) rear end. The pinfeather stage is so awkward for them - for most birds, really! I often wonder if the feathers itch as they break through, or hurt like teething in babies. I am personally still waiting to get beyond my pinfeather stage.
So I guess all birds are ugly ducklings really. Except the turkey. That thing is cuter as a baby.
I only hope to glo up as much as these birds after highschool, I look like a baby cockatoo
If you're going to compile these please get them right.
We have updated some due to your and other users' helpful comments! Unfortunately, the photographers got these birds quite mixed up which in the end mixed us up too since we're not bird experts. But thanks to you we got all of them right :)) (editor of the post)
Which ones are wrong? I'm no bird expert so asking from curiosity :)
The Kiwi is wrong and the name for one of the birds was just..crane. Not sure about the others.
Merle isn't a type of bird; it's actually just a nickname for a common blackbird. The one they have listed here is a North American Robin.
I learned an interesting fact about baby crows only because I photographed one; they have blue eyes.
Awww!
you forgot the shoe bill stork. =(
I'm not quite sure why, but I find their faces deeply unsettling. 🤔
Fantastic gallery :D It's amazing how some of the birds change totally when grown up :D
Why the hell are there stupid sex spam posts everywhere??? Pleas fix them!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
❤ do you mind being mastur︆︆bated together?❤ write me here ✅✅==>> ︆︆v︆︆.︆︆︆︆ht/HVnZp
ive encountered so many of these birds. guess im a chick magnet ;)
Bored panda please stop shortening the lists! If someone is bored mid list then they can move on but are missing out on so much if the list is shortened and don't click on the extra images!
"Note: this post originally had 57 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes." this is written after 30th photo. if you click on the "57 images" you can watch them all ;)
I couldn't agree more! If you don't jump on the post right away most of the things are gone! I'm here to see it all, and read the comments. @BoredPanda please let us read the full post!!!
Is it too much trouble clicking on the link to see the full post? I think the way it is right now is a neutral solution for both sides: if you want to move out after seeing the best 30 pictures that's fine; if not, you can expand the post. It's not complicated...
They did this because some people didn't like having the whole list as it was too big.
They can stop at anytime...no one is making them stay on the list...
Regardless what you may call all of them. They are all still dinosaurs, or what's left of them.
well, at least these birds can't eat people... (though some might eat people if there a chance of it)
My childhood and present pictures can also be apt addition here. Plain to presentable.
Some of these birds looks stunning, and there are many more out there this list did not mentions like kingfisher, painted bunting, blue grosbeak, summer tanager, rainbow lorikeet, galah cockatoo, red lory, crimson rosella, Hyacinth macaw, Quetzal, Hoopoe, Bird of Paradise, Lilac Breasted Roller, Splendid Fairywren, Anna’s hummingbird and more...
Adorable chicks! Never thought that some barely got any feathers when they were born.
thank god for bird puberty!
When God was handing out beauty he went overboard when he got to birds - they are all stunningly gorgeous!! <3
very nice gallery but i would've enjoyed seeing more bird breeds that you can own, like an Indian ringneck parakeet, galla cockatoo, conure, macaw, etc
I raised Zebra finches for several years. New hatchlings are really not cute. They hatch completely helpless, blind, mostly naked, all mouth and (ahem) rear end. The pinfeather stage is so awkward for them - for most birds, really! I often wonder if the feathers itch as they break through, or hurt like teething in babies. I am personally still waiting to get beyond my pinfeather stage.
So I guess all birds are ugly ducklings really. Except the turkey. That thing is cuter as a baby.
I only hope to glo up as much as these birds after highschool, I look like a baby cockatoo
If you're going to compile these please get them right.
We have updated some due to your and other users' helpful comments! Unfortunately, the photographers got these birds quite mixed up which in the end mixed us up too since we're not bird experts. But thanks to you we got all of them right :)) (editor of the post)
Which ones are wrong? I'm no bird expert so asking from curiosity :)
The Kiwi is wrong and the name for one of the birds was just..crane. Not sure about the others.
Merle isn't a type of bird; it's actually just a nickname for a common blackbird. The one they have listed here is a North American Robin.
I learned an interesting fact about baby crows only because I photographed one; they have blue eyes.
Awww!
you forgot the shoe bill stork. =(
I'm not quite sure why, but I find their faces deeply unsettling. 🤔