FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Nest sharing

["Spahr MD, John" <Jspahr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mary Reid Barrow's note on interspecies nest sharing is intriguing.  Ya
wonder what sort of reproductive pressures drive such a phenomenon.  I've
never heard of this although I have heard of same species sharing nests.
This Cardinal-Robin nest sharing might deserves photographic documentation
and publication in a scientific journal, if someone has the time and
interest. Intrigued by the matter I did a quick Google search and located a
few anecdotal records... 

1) Fournier, M. A., and J. E. Hines.  1996.  Nest sharing by a lesser scaup
and a greater scaup.  Wilson Bull. 108:380-381.  

2) ..."Some owls recycle abandoned nests of hawks or crows, and there's even
a record of nest sharing by a Red-shouldered Hawk that sat on a mixed clutch
of eggs at night while a Barred Owl incubated the same nest by day."  in
http://www.hiltonpond.org/ArticleOwlsSCMain.html

3)  Arctic Tern - on a 2-egg nest, sharing incubation duties with a
Forster's. http://folkbird.net/ebb/archive/a0006e.html


John Spahr
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