Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 14:25:52 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: Grackle being fed by robins MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jim Felley asked: >Has anyone seen or heard of grackles > dumping their eggs in other birds nests, or seen robins voluntarily >feeding the fledglings of other species? I haven't seen robins feeding non-robins but I once documented a gnatcatcher(!) feeding baby grackles. In that case I'm quite sure the gnatcatcher's nest failed and it took to feeding the nearest available open mouths. Perhaps the persistent begging of the "abandoned" (or "orphaned"?) grackle induced the harried parent robins to feed it? I am unaware of any record of even accidental brood parasitism by grackles, the grackle habitually rejects cowbird eggs. However according to the "Birds of No. America" account by Brian Peer and Eric Bollinger there have been a few cases of egg-dumping among grackle nests so it's at least plausible for it to take place among species, especially those with a somewhat similar nest and body size. Good Atlasing, Walter Ellison MD/DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Rd Chestertown, MD 21620-3645 410-778-9568 "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast." - E. B. White ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================