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Nidiparisitism
- To: CAROLINA BIRDS <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
- Subject: Nidiparisitism
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 15:00:58 -0500 (EST)
- In-Reply-To: <v0422080ab50560f021f5@[207.144.11.112]>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
On Mon, 27 Mar 2000, BILL HILTON JR. (Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont
Natural History) wrote:
>
> I would suggest caution on thinking that every instance of nest
> material removal is the work of the builder. This certainly occurs,
> but it is also not uncommon among birds for one pair to steal nesting
> material from another and incorporate it into a new nest. There's
> probably even technical term for this behavior, but I don't know
> it--maybe "nidiparasitism."
Just across the street from my prep school in Massachusetts, during
spring of my junior year, we watched an Orchard Oriole carefully string
up its hanging nest. And each time the Orchard left to collect more
material, a Baltimore Oriole flew in, removed a bit, and took it back to
add to his own nest!
This was just up the street from one of my all-time favorite "two birds
in one binocular view" experiences, when my advisor and I, after a few
seconds' debate over whether the brightly colored bird with black wings
was a male Baltimore Oriole or a male Scarlet Tanager, discovered that we
were both right!
Good birding,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/