Neat observation Jack. A newer birder may often pick up on, and notice differently, behaviors that may not be described in literature and just taken for granted. I am going to guess here and describe a process that will occur with both humans and non-humans as their children grow up. Nestlings and infants are not ready to know or care about where their food comes from. They are just trusting the parents in their lives to give them the correct nutrition. Once they move out into the worjd as fledglings and toddlers they need to start connecting the taste and safety and palatability of the food they are consuming with where it actually comes from. So it can be seen in many many instances that parents make the connection concrete by eating food but sharing it as they do, direct from the source, so that the children can learn where to find it themselves. This is a just guess based on what in know of all sorts of animals teaching others what their food is. This even occurs in other animals where a naive (like a newly captured wild horse) may be taught by homed horses that the grain bucket is a good thing. They will let the other horse smell their mouth and even dribble some grain down. I guess you will have to let us know if this seems to fit with what you saw. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like the Pileateds have a good gig at your feeders. Linda Orkin Ithaca, New York. On Aug 7, 2023, at 4:19 PM, Jack Morse <jack.morse...@gmail.com> wrote:
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- [cayugabirds-l] Pileated feeding young Jack Morse
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