Over the past few days I have observed a Red-breasted Nuthatch repeatedly foraging in "this year's" abandoned Robin nest. Guess there are some insects there, but I can't see the prey. I had not witnessed this before, so I asked David Leatherman about it. He replied: "I have seen birds foraging in old nests, but usually it is old squirrel nests or swallow (cliff and barn) nests. Have not seen what you saw. I suspect the target (just a guess) was calliphorid fly larvae or pupae which feed on nestlings as ectoparasites (I.e., suck blood*). Could be other critters in a used nest like dermestid beetles, other flies, bird lice, etc."
There seems to be no end to the topic, "what birds eat". Joe Roller, Denver * a behavior they share with phlebotomists -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpZcUCofTaT1F-08B9Lzn65artgvziSpnG0QCoZ%2BODrVOX3uw%40mail.gmail.com.
