[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

scissor tail metabolism



I just spent a wonderful hour watching the scissor tail family on their
perch high in the oak tree in the cemetary. The three babies spent most of
their time huddled and looking quite demure. Every once in a while they
would fly to positiion themselves better to meet an adult flying in from
its foraging from the fields around. To my eye the babies looked very
unsure of themsleves, and thus hardly old enough to be left alone
(especially with the great plethora of shrikes in the vicinity), but the
adults obviously felt more condfident, and at one ten minute stretch the
babies were left completely alone on their exposed perch as the parents
foraged--one in the china-berry bush and the other in the row of conifers
downhill. Thus, the babies were presumably not out of sight, but still a
swooping falcon (or shrike) could have made off with them. At one point a
shrike did fly up and land on the oak, but it was chased away. Thereafter
the shrikes seemed very focussed on flying down into the pasture and
gleaning insects off the grass. A Black vulture soared overhead and was
dive-bombed (somewhat desultorily, I thought, compared to the zeal with
which it had been chased a few weeks ago by the adults). A Red Tail soared
overhead but amazingly the adults stayed put on their perch close to the
three babies. 
My question about the family is this: In the 45 minutes that I watched the
flycatchers the adults came back to the perch only once with an insect. It
was a dragonfly, which was thrust first into one baby's gaping mouth,
hastily removed, thrust into another mouth, and then returned to the
original 'beggar.'  One feeding in 45 minutes is not much (and two, of
course, didn't even get that morsel). This confuses me because animal
rehab. people tell me that birds, and especially baby birds, have
incredibly high metabolisms, and they have to be fed constantly in order
to survive. So, are the parents deliberately trying to underfeed the
babies in order to spur them on to fly? or was I misinformed about the
high metabolism rates of young birds? Any thoughts anyone?

Oh! And in addition I also saw or heard: E Bluebirds, E Kingbirds, E
Meadowlarks, Mourning Doves, Cardinals, Brown Headed Nuthatch, Flicker,
Red Bellied Woodpecker, Mockers, Barn Swallows, Cliff Swallows, Blue
Grosbeak. Not bad for standing around in one spot.
 
***************************************************** SHANTANU PHUKAN
Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Curriculum in Asian Studies
Alumni Hall 413C
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599

phukan@email.unc.edu
919-962-6825
*****************************************************