I have been watching goldfinches a lot lately, but I wonder if they were doing what I recently saw a mob of chickadees and a nutchatch do recently. Nuthatch came first, then a mob of chickadees followed; all landed on my patio umbrella and were going crazy, gleening something from the underside of the umbrella underside where the rods insert into canvas pockets. They spent about ten minutes doing this. After they left, I went up close to see if I could figure out what they were eating, but saw nothing. I can only figure it was some kind of insect or insect egg, and the canvas was completely clean. Perhaps the goldfinch saw some kind of insect eggs or insect hatchlings in the corner of those windows???
Regarding the headless nestlings, I have heard the grackles bite off the heads of baby birds. I've noticed that Starlings have returned to urban trees this week, after having been gone all spring and summer. Being blackbirds, perhaps they do that too? Sandy Wold Fall Creek, Ithaca -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
