2014 Photograph, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea, Gnatcatcher Family Polioptilidae) Nest, Dad with a Fecal Pellet, Occoquan Bay NWR, Woodbridge, Virginia, © 2020.
Nest cleanliness is very important, so to help achieve this, the chicks produce an encapsulated fecal pellet which the parents then carry away from the nest. The male seemed to carry out this function most often--Dad carrying out the garbage, so to speak! |
