Hi Stuart,
The heronry on the island in the big beaver pond south of the West Danby Fire
Hall is just a few years old. The timing of its origin suggests that it may
have been started by refugees from the old heronry that existed on a wooded
island in the North Spencer Marsh, which was taken over by the pair of Bald
Eagles that nests there now. Buried deep in the heart of the Eagles' massive
structure, the simple remains of a Great Blue Heron's nest presumably lie
rotting.
-Geo
On Jun 13, 2014, at 5:20 PM, Stuart Krasnoff wrote:
> Re: Richard's insects. My guess would be blow flies (family Calliphoridae)
> from a cadaver. I dont think they'd pose a threat to a living bird best to
> get the adults and take them to Jason Dombroskie in Entomology for id.
>
> Given today's date, I thought i'd share another grisly observation from a few
> weeks ago. Judy Abrams and I were scoping the Heron rookery in the swamp
> south of the W. Danby firehouse on June 1. Just as we were starting to
> enjoy discovering chicks in one nest one of the brood of 4(!) starting
> hammering the runt with its beak and it looked like it was trying to flip it
> over the side and out of the nest. I didn't see anything fall, but I did
> see what looked like feeding (pecking and possible flesh rending) on
> something out of sight low in the nest ,so maybe cannibalism could be added
> to the rapsheet in addition to fratricide. The internet yielded abundant
> reports of this phenomenon in ardeids. It's all right there in the "The
> Selfish Gene" (I mean literally-I think there was a chapter on conflict of
> interest among sibs), but it turned a 'cute' baby bird into an evil-eyed
> dinosaur in a West Danby minute. BTW, I haven't noticed other postings on
> the collection of active nests out there. Is this a perennial rookery? If
> so, maybe Geo can comment on its history.
>
> Good luck for the rest of the day...Stuart
>
>
>
>
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