Re: Avian Cannibals

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Sat, May 14th, 2011 at 4:30 AM, David Krentz <ddkrentz@charter.net> wrote:

>   Are there good examples of birds cannibalizing, and if so why?

Gulls are certainly willing to scavenge from the corpses of their own species - 
although they don't
do the killing themselves.

Although many colony-nesting birds will defend the territory around their own 
nests, even pecking
the chicks of other birds to death if they stray from their own nest. I imagine 
a nesting gull would
probably then eat the chick it killed - or more likely pull it to pieces to 
feed its own chicks.

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Dann Pigdon
Spatial Data Analyst               Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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