Aww... It’s a cute baby drake. It blends in very well when it hides in tall grass.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

Young drakes are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own.

This little hatchling finds the bugling of males so impressive that she tries to imitate it. She climbs up high in trees and lets rip with her attempt. Most drakes look up in surprise and then laugh at her, because she sounds like a hoarse seal got the wind knocked out of it. She does not care, she just keeps trying to master bugling.