
During Week #8 in the rookery this season, I took this photo of an egret feeding chicks. Most of the nests were crowded with chicks like these shoving each other to be the first in line for food. Parents take turns fishing. Upon return to the nest, they invite the chicks to tug on their bills. I’m not sure what the biological purpose of this is. Some say that it stimulates a regurgitation reflex which forces the parent to pass food to the young. It appears to me that it also strengthens or exercises the chicks. These two chicks tag teamed the parent. Both had their beaks, not yet elongated, wrapped around the mother’s face and bill. They were trying to tug her downward as she tried to yank them up.