Not from a cuckoo. Most likely the parents died or were unable to feed them sufficiently, or something (like maybe a mouse running along over the nest at night)
disturbed them and they fell out of the nest. Could today’s rain have washed them out of the nest? The
few large pale brownish feathers is most likely completely irrelevant or just nest lining that the parents had earlier put in the nest. If you want to post a photo of these
feathers indicating the size, then it may be possible to suggest what the feathers are from.
Philip
From: Elizabeth Keen [
Sent: Wednesday, 23 November, 2016 9:27 PM
To: Denise Kay
Cc: kym bradley; Canberra Birds
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Few Chicks out of nest in the last week
Out of area - Tallaganda. Our Welcome Swallows had three half-grown chicks in their usual nest in the 3-bay shed. Today I found all three chicks dead on the ground under the nest, along with a few large pale brownish feathers. Can anybody
suggest a likely explanation? Is there a cuckoo that parasitises W. Swallows? We have Fan-tailed, Brush, Channel-billed, possibly others. Libby
