Feeding the chicks

Father brings in a green caterpillar. First, the parents try to break it into smaller chunks or just kill it off and eventually it's fed whole to one of the babies. The baby immediately excretes a fecal sac that's picked up and eaten by the mother.

Feeding, 29 April 2014 11:04am

Here is another short clip that clearly shows the procedure: mother stuffs the baby with a caterpillar and the baby immediately produces a fecal sac that the mother picks up and swallows (male birds will usually not do this but dump the fecal sac somewhere away from the box). This way the nest stays clean and predators are not attracted to the smell.

Feeding, 29 April 2014 2:30pm

Btw: at the time that I write this, chick #8 has just hatched. Four more eggs to go!