Thanks. That feather is a flank feather from a male Maned (or Australian Wood) Duck. Not likely to be a problem at a
Welcome Swallow’s
nest. It would have been just nest lining that the parents had earlier put in the nest.
Philip
From: Elizabeth Keen [
Sent: Friday, 25 November, 2016 10:54 AM
To: Philip Veerman
Cc: Canberra birds
Subject: Re: Few Chicks out of nest in the last week
Thanks Philip, here's a photo of one of the feathers. Nest is intact. At least one parent still around. As you say, maybe it was panic over an intruder. L
On 23 Nov 2016, at 9:38 pm, "Philip Veerman" <> wrote:
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
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