Hancock Wildlife Foundation

This thread is for discussion of birds. It does not need to be species specific and all subjects related to birds are welcome here. For discussion of specific species please post in the appropriate thread. If a thread does not exist yet for the species you would like to discuss in more depth, please pm a Moderator and request a thread be created.

Piping plover, an endangered species, foraging and sitting on a nest at Roseway Beach in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia:

Piping plover parent and chick at Roseway Beach in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia:

Piping plover parents and chick at Roseway Beach in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia:

Fantastic violet-backed starling sighting during the Jan. 21 WildEarth afternoon drive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Ui2jIHE3o). The footage starts at about the 1:30:00 mark. Tristan said these birds rarely hold still and don't typically stay close enough to a drive vehicle to allow for closeup head-shots, so he was quite thrilled by this sighting:

Lovely pictures, Sue - and that violet starling is stunning!

Wonderful sighting of a crested barbet during the May 11 afternoon drive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXxUu0zdCgY):

Surprising sighting of a Burchell's starling feeding a great spotted cuckoo juvenile, recorded on the Djuma Dam cam in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa (https://youtu.be/6J9YDpZHcII):

This article describes the cuckoos' parasitic nesting behavior: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-ne ... 180951916/

SueD wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 02, 2023 8:12 am

Surprising sighting of a Burchell's starling feeding a great spotted cuckoo juvenile, recorded on the Djuma Dam cam in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa (https://youtu.be/6J9YDpZHcII):

This article describes the cuckoos' parasitic nesting behavior: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-ne ... 180951916/

Interesting - I did know that cuckoo's tend to lay eggs in other birds' nests - but that poor parent stuck with such a large chick! I hope the youngster learns to find their own food soon. Thanks for posting this, Sue!

JudyB wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:26 am

Interesting - I did know that cuckoo's tend to lay eggs in other birds' nests - but that poor parent stuck with such a large chick! I hope the youngster learns to find their own food soon. Thanks for posting this, Sue!

You're welcome, Judy! I watch this dam cam on a regular basis, and I had scrolled back to this moment on the live cam. At first I didn't understand what I was seeing. Surely that wasn't a Burchell's starling chick ... even though it was acting like one! Turns out there was a good reason for that.

I think cuckoo chicks must do pretty well with this arrangement. Otherwise I can't imagine their behavior would have continued evolving in this way. It's a good arrangement for cuckoo parents. They're spared the work of raising their own chicks! But it's quite a burden for the other parent birds, not only losing their own chicks, but having to care for chicks that are so big.