When I opened a nestbox to monitor it, the Tree Swallow adult inside would not leave. While I was checking the second box of the pair, the adult departed. I found a dead chick underneath four live chicks that looked like they were about 1-2 days old.
The dead chick had some blood on its beak, and the head looked hypoxic (pale vs. pink like the live chicks). Initially I thought it might have been attacked by Tree Swallows nesting in other paired box, which is only an estimated 9 feet 10 inches away. However, I saw a dark hard item area on one side of the throat. I looked inside the mouth, and saw blood. I extracted a large black bug from the dead chick's throat (see photo below.) I am assuming that the chick choked to death on the bug. Perhaps the blood was from the parent trying to remove the bug? Bet Zimmerman, 06/17/07.
This chick apparently choked to death on the bug lodged on the side of its throat.
This is the insect I removed from the chicks' throat. It was covered with blood.
As a first-time bluebird monitor, I am alternately mesmerized, mystified, and petrified.Until now, I never gave much thought about how the day-to-day existence of wildlife is so perilous and fragile. What an education!
- Donna Spray, Bluebird_L, 2006
