How to Use fledge in a Sentence

fledge

verb
  • The young birds haven't yet fledged.
  • Chicks fledge, or leave the nest, at about 12 weeks old.
    Orange County Register, 5 Jan. 2017
  • About two-thirds of the puffins fledged chicks last year, Lyons said.
    Patrick Whittle, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Aug. 2023
  • At about four months old, the chick becomes a fledging and is ready to leave the nest.
    National Geographic, 24 Mar. 2020
  • The warblers moved around most when babies were in the nest and were starting to fledge.
    Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Aug. 2020
  • A video shows Spirit fledging the nest from an oak tree.
    Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post, 5 June 2017
  • Semel worked with the city of Waukegan to place ropes and signs around the nesting site to keep humans away so the young can hatch and fledge.
    Sheryl Devore, Lake County News-Sun, 3 July 2017
  • For those who put up bird nesting boxes in spring, now is a good time to watch for the young to fledge.
    Sheryl Devore, chicagotribune.com, 9 July 2021
  • On a recent visit, the young were about 150 days old, nearly time to fledge.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Aug. 2019
  • Born last spring, #1111 is the second condor ever to fledge, or learn to fly, in Zion.
    The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Jan. 2022
  • The parent birds look ratty by the time the kids have fledged, but a few months later they’re all turned out in fresh feathers.
    Murr Brewster, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Sep. 2017
  • The cliffs where birds set up nests will stay closed for the rest of the breeding season, until the chicks fledge sometime around late July.
    Rebekah Wahlberg, The Salt Lake Tribune, 1 Mar. 2021
  • In some cases, the natural chicks don't thrive and only the cowbird chick survives to fledge from the nest.
    Val Cunningham Special To The Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 6 July 2021
  • After the babies fledge, the pair sometimes return later to raise a second brood in the same nest.
    Joan Morris, The Mercury News, 22 Mar. 2017
  • Much like short-track speedskating, snowboarding wasn't even full-fledged a sport in the 1980s.
    Barry Svrluga, chicagotribune.com, 13 Feb. 2018
  • The baby eagle was believed to be a female by the nonprofit and fledged that year.
    Helena Wegner, Sacramento Bee, 7 Feb. 2024
  • Keep an eye out for the 55 species that nest at the park, including the bright yellow warbler and the least bell’s vireo (the babies will soon be fledging!).
    Dakota Kim, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2023
  • Despite the odds, M15 succeeded, and both eaglets fledged in March.
    Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 28 Nov. 2023
  • Despite the odds, M15 succeeded, and both eaglets fledged in March.
    Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 4 Jan. 2024
  • Birdwatchers are now concerned about when Tuffy will fledge — the term for when birds grow feathers large enough to fly on their own.
    Daniel S. Levine, Peoplemag, 23 June 2023
  • From nest building to fledging is a process that can continue through June.
    Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 6 Feb. 2020
  • Orion fledged the nest in June and hasn’t been seen on the camera since, according to officials for the Dulles Greenway.
    Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2023
  • In that year, declining numbers of their fish prey led to only about a quarter of the birds fledging chicks.
    Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Sep. 2023
  • The following spring, Starr laid and hatched two eggs, one of which successfully fledged.
    Chelsey Lewis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5 Mar. 2020
  • Harriet has fledged dozens of eagles since the early 1990s.
    Washington Post, 15 Jan. 2020
  • The older birds seem to understand the timeline needed for their young to fledge and forgo breeding in late spring years.
    John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 11 Apr. 2020
  • As every parent of a college student knows, fledging is a process, not an event.
    Jill Singer, BostonGlobe.com, 17 Aug. 2019
  • The chicks will then rely on their parents for food for about two months before fledging, or first taking flight.
    Eugene Register-Guard, OregonLive.com, 5 May 2018
  • Grunewald said that 63 additional birds hatched and fledged this summer in Canada, which is a record.
    Lee Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 30 Aug. 2017
  • Baby hummingbirds can take between four and six weeks to fledge or grow feathers big enough to fly.
    Erin Stone, azcentral, 3 Apr. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fledge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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