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Name: Jan
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Age: N/A
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Question:
Robins have a nest of only 2 young. Parents were feeding both young at first, then stopped feeding the one. Now there is only one. Why do did they stop feeding it, as there were only two to care for?

Replies:
Parent birds respond to the begging actions of their nestlings. Its not possible to say for sure why they stopped feeding one while continuing with the other, but it MIGHT be that one was weak, sick or had some other problem that caused it to stop the begging behavior.

J. Elliott

Often if one chick is exhibiting signs of sickness or weakness the parents will put all their effort into the strong chick in order to guarantee its' survival. If they were to continue to feed both, the stronger chick would not get as strong. It is very typical for the "runt" to have a very low survival rate in birds.

Grace Fields

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