Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 16:41:39 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: Robins - nest parasitism? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All, I sincerely doubt that brood parasitism is the answer here, all we have is circumstantial evidence. According to Rex Sallabanks' and Fran James' Birds of North America account there are rare records of robin eggs in other species' nests but there is no record of any bird raising one of these eggs. Also a blue robin egg is very likely to be rejected by a known cowbird-egg-rejector like the Yellow Warbler (which lays white eggs with dark spots). My best guess is a robin fledgling got fed by a warbler at some point, perhaps as it sat in the warbler nest, and since it got a "free meal" by sitting there it continued to "mooch" from the little birds. The robin may have been at the point of being "weaned" by its parents, but as many of you have seen, it probably had not given up on begging for a meal. Feeding young of the wrong species is uncommon, but it happens surprisingly often. I am curious about other possible scenarios to explain this odd behavioral sighting, any other ideas? Good Atlasing & Birding, Walter Ellison MD-DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Road Chestertown, MD 21620 phone: 410-778-9568 e-mail: rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. White (in "Stuart Little") ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marcia Watson-Whitmyre" To: Sent: Monday, July 07, 2003 10:20 AM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Robins - nest parasitism? > I'm posting the message below at the request of Nick Pulcinella from > West Chester, who is covering a couple of Cecil Atlas blocks along the > MD-PA line. Nick is seeking input on baby robins in other species' > nests. I hope someone out there has some insight into this. > > Marcia Watson-Whitmyre > Cecil County > > ************************** > Hi MD Birders, > > I had a strange Atlas experience a few weeks ago that still has me > perplexed. > > While working one of our blocks in northeast Cecil Co. 6/15 we watched > a female Yellow Warbler carry food into a tree. While watching, we saw > the bird go to the nest and feed what we thought was a young cowbird. > Approaching the nest to get a better view, we noticed that the large > baby bird was not a cowbird, but a robin. We watched longer to make > sure of our finding. The yellow warbler parents came in several times > and each time fed > the baby robin. The robin seemed to take up the entire nest space. To > add more confusion, while watching the robin, I saw what appeared to > be movement in the nest behind the robin. At that point a baby yellow > warbler walked up onto the back and then the head of the robin and out > onto a tree limb. From then on when the yellow warbler parents came in > with food, they found the baby yellow warbler on the nearby limb and > fed it instead of the robin. > > I'm kind of stumped as to why the robin was in the nest. I've tried to > think of a scenario that would put the robin in the nest. I thought > that maybe it was originally a robin nest which contained a robin egg > which was then abandoned and then the nest used by the yellow warbler > which hatched both eggs. The problem to me with that theory is that > the nest appeared to be typical of other yellow warbler nests I have > seen. I've been unable to find anything in the literature about > "robin parasitism". I'd be interested > in any other thoughts. Thanks in advance. > > Nick Pulcinella > West Chester, PA > > ====================================================================== > = > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================