This video shows the female crane walking on the chick, at first I thought she was just clumsy. Looking closer at the original video I discovered the entire nest was swarming with fire ants and I wonder if she was trying to kill the ants that were attacking the baby. Would a bird be smart enough to try and kill ants? Both parents were forced to lay on top of the ants. The Sandhill chasing the deer is two photos together taken a second apart.
Thanks for sharing the link, very interesting to see this behavior and what an unfortunate choice to nest there. I could imagine that they saw the ants on the chick.
Axel we had several storms during the nesting and its very possible as the water rose the ant ball floated into the nest. There is water all around the nest area which would make it very difficult for the fire ants to even find the nest. Rod
Rod- when I worked on Brown Noddies in Culebra, Puerto Rico (for 16 years), I lost several chicks and eggs to ants. Not sure they were fireants but they sure would give a good bite. The worst years for ant mortality seemed to be related to very dry conditions and a wet chick juts out of the egg can be very vulnerable.
Walking on a chick or eatin alive?
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