Fwd: [canberrabirds] dead chick

[martin butterfield <>]

When the Royal Spoonbills nested in Kellys Swamp there were a few in-nest deaths.  As far as I am aware there never any report of corpses hanging out of the nest as is the case with the White-faced Heron, so it might be possible to assume that the corpse stayed in the nest.

After the spoonbills departed I observed an Australian White Ibis feeding on something it was gleaning from one of the nests. I wondered at the time if this was tidying up after a dead chick or just spilled stuff from the parent-chick food transfer.

Martin

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 1:50 PM, Philip Veerman <> wrote:

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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