-----Original Message-----
From: Upper Valley Birders [mailto:
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Behalf Of David L. Webb
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2012 9:36 AM
To:
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Subject: Re: [UVB] chickadee feeding robins
--- You wrote:
I have never heard of that happening before, where one species of bird helps
another
species raise nestlings?! It seems like it would be a horribly maladaptive
thing to do, wasting all that energy instead of either trying to re-nest or
just
relax for the rest of the summer to try again next year. It seems so odd
that
it tried to build a nest out in the open in the sun when I thought
Chickadees
were only cavity nesters, too. I wonder if there is something seriously
wrong
with the poor little bird's brain.
Maybe it's not that unusual and I've just never heard of it before. (?) Does
anyone
have any other examples of it happening that they know of?
--- end of quote ---
I don't know how common such behavior is, but it does occur. I read
an article
some years ago (I believe in _Smithsonian_) that mentioned a cardinal that
had
lost its brood and was feeding carp in a pond! The fish came to the
surface,
opened their mouths wide, and the cardinal hovered over and dropped them
tidbits
of food. While I wasn't able to find the article online (it appeared years
ago,
before the internet), I did find this, which even has a video:
<
http://www.a-home-for-wild-birds.com/cardinal-and-goldfish.html>.
Really amazing!
Best wishes,
David Webb