oops

Paul Pomeroy

This little one apparently fell (or flew prematurely) out of its nest. I watched for awhile as its mother kept trying to feed it. Unexpectedly, she continued in her efforts even with me standing less than 10 feet away. I went back and got my camera but this time the mother flew up into a nearby tree and kept up a constant stream of squawking while I took a few photos.

The baby may have been sick. It showed no sign of fear but continued making what I could only interpret as "feed me" calls to its mother (the same as when she was trying to feed it earlier). Even though it appeared to be as large as its mother it made no attempt to fly or even flap its wings. I don't know enough about this kind of stuff in general, let alone this particular species, but just sitting there squawking for mom doesn't seem like a particularly promising survival strategy.

As soon as I walked away, mom returned to try feeding it again. She kept hunting around for insects (I presume) but at one point fed it a small stick which the baby appeared to eat and then spit back out again. That didn't seem like a particularly promising survival strategy, either.

---

View Project: