[tn-bird] Re: [Northern Male Cardinal Feeding Female Blue Grosbeak

From almost the beginning of my birding hobby in Florida, I have seen herons 
and egrets "angling" for fish AND an occasional frog in small ponds near a 
rookery close to home.  They also seem to learn by example when they fly out 
to feed with the elders from their rookery, because I have seen the young 
birds suddenly pull a "monkey see, monkey do" trick after an adult bird had 
just been successful.   According to many of the well known birders who used 
to come to Florida and bird with us, this is very common practice.  Observers 
often just do not realize that the birds are "baiting" their dinners as these 
expert feeders are quite quick about it.  Watch them carefully, and you will 
see it more often than you think.  At St. Marks NWR, I once saw a common 
egret (or whatever it is called now) flicking snail eggs off a water plant 
and reaping the reward as each snail egg fell into the water. I sat quietly 
on the bridge above and watched that performance for about 45 minutes.

Also, my "Mama Cardinals" quite often jab something into the mouth of another 
baby bird specie along with her own young when they are all lined up and 
squalling together.  Most species eat what is given to them, but the one baby 
mockingbird she fed spit the sunflower seed out that she gave it.  It was 
there practicing to become a real "boss" mockingbird by forcing everyone else 
away to gain access to "its" peanut butter.  

Another "surrogate" occurrence this year was when my mockingbirds behind the 
house became a one parent family, both mockingbirds from across the street 
actually helped the single parent by taking food to the backyard nest and 
feeding those babies alternately with delivering food to their own babies in 
their nest.  Both nestsful are fledged and gone now.  The single parent has a 
new mate, and is now feeding more young in the SAME nest.  The former 
surrogate parents are also feeding another clutch of young.  Keep in mind 
that the once single parent is probably the adult descendant of the pair 
across the street.  Family ties?

Dee Thompson
Nashville, TN

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