Natural Selection in the Nest!

Richard Rathe, April 2018

Yesterday we kayaked over to the Egret Rookery on Little Lake Santa Fe. There were at least ten great egrets sitting on nests and one nest had a raucous bunch of chicks (3 or 4). Then we noticed there was a much smaller chick on the edge and its siblings were attacking it! After a minute or two we watched the little guy fall sixty feet into the water…

We picked him up about two minutes later. He was nearly drowned, limp and barely able to move. Back on shore we let him dry in the sun and he soon perked up. (He also had moss green skin which we later found out is normal.)

We are very fortunate to have a local organization that will take in such an orphan (The Florida Wildlife Care Center). By the time I dropped him off he was all fluffy and holding his head up. They will feed him fresh ground fish similar to what he’d get from his parents.

Siblicide is quite common in wading birds. The first hatched have the physical advantage and get most of the food. The younger bird(s) must struggle to survive.

I saw something similar several years ago with these Spoonbill nestlings.

The larger chick was always cutting in front of the other.