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Hi
Tim,
I am sure you
are right and I note your comments are about behaviour of chicks, rather than
parents. Siblings eating dead siblings among raptors is a sort of special case
(and if it was about raptors rather than herons I probably would have mentioned
that). Indeed with some eagles it is common for an older / bigger chick to kill
or harass to death a younger chick (which then is likely to be eaten). Those who
have watched this, report that the parent does little if anything to stop it.
Indeed the parent probably did this when it was a chick.
Philip
Hi Philip
Not sure i agree
with your line of thinking. Birds of prey/owls chicks can sometimes end up
eating their own brother/sister in the nest - there are good adaptation reasons
for doing this if food scarce and sometimes not all the chick gets devoured. You
would think given the risks from decaying biological material in the nest and
the impact on surviving chick and the potential to attract unwanted visitors
(carrion feeders) from the smell of a rotting carcass that a behaviour would
have developed to clear out material like this from the nest - does anyone know
if this behaviour has been observed in some birds of prey/owls
?
regards
tim
> From:
> To:
;
>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:50:41 +1100
> Subject: [canberrabirds] dead
chick
>
> Actually I suggest it may be unusual for the parents to
remove the dead
> chick (apart from by eating it or feeding it to the
siblings). They
> might remove it but it is not necessarily a typical
thing for birds to
> do. Most birds remove egg shells from the nest and
many (maybe only
> passerines?) remove droppings, but these are inevitable
and the
> behaviour exists for this. Having a dead chick is not an
inevitable and
> the behaviour to remove it is not that strong. I think
the suggestion
> comes from thinking as a person, rather than thinking
like a bird (which
> to be honest is not thinking a lot). What do others
think (no
> circularity intended)?
>
> Philip
>
> -----Original Message-----From: Perkins, Harvey
>
[
> Sent: Thursday, 27 January
2011 9:43 AM To: Elizabeth Compston; Canberra
> Birds Subject: RE:
[canberrabirds] dead chick [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]
>
>
> The
White-faced Heron chick has been dead in the nest since at least the
>
evening of Monday 24 Jan.
>
> Harvey
>
>
>
Harvey Perkins
> CRC Selection Rounds Section
_______________________________________
> Department of Innovation,
Industry, Science and Research
>
>
> -----Original
Message-----From: Elizabeth Compston
>
[ Sent: Wednesday, 26 January
>
2011 1:52 PM
> To: Canberra Birds Subject: [canberrabirds] dead
chick
>
> We saw the dead wfh chick last night. Its head was
hanging down
> under the nest. The parents will surely have to get rid of
it as it
> will foul the nest. Will they push it through, or lift it out?
> Doubtless there will be scavengers waiting for a feast . We found a
> small fish under the nest the other day. Ants were already devouring
> it, after a very short time
>
>
Elizabeth
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