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Nice shots, Stuart. I presume this is simply the
removal of the faecal sac of the young. The Noisy Friarbird nest near
my house is cleaned by the adults regularly and frequently. After they
bring food, they usually pick up a deposited faecal sac and fly well away from
the nest with it. (I read in HANZAB that some birds, including Dusky WS
for the first days after hatching, eat the faecal sac.)
This is an amazing piece of evolution as the young of
nidicolous species deposit in sacs to permit this action by parents. After
fledging, the bird's physiology changes and the sacs disappear.
Apparently, because of the flimsy nests of the
Woodswallows, the parent removes the sac before it is dropped near the nest thus
defeating the purpose of the clean-up. HANZAB does not actually record
such a process of removal from the anus directly, from my quick scan of the
relevant pages.
David
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