We have a American robin nest above the door to our deck where we can get a great view of all of the activity. The adults are feeding four young which hatched about a week ago. Before flying to the nest they often land on the deck railing to check us out before deciding it is safe to fly to the nest. This affords a good opportunity to see what they are carrying. This afternoon I was surprised to see a whole, young salamander in with the worms in the adults beak! The entire load was fed to one hungry chick. Yesterday we found a dried carcass of a small salamander under the nest on the floor of the deck. According to the “AllAboutBirds.org” website, robins “have rarely been recorded eating shrews, small snakes, and aquatic insects.” Maybe it’s not as rare as previously thought.
Laura Laura Stenzler l...@cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --