The Trickster Greater honeyguides don’t bother to build


their own nests. T ey just use other birds’ nests. For example, a female honeyguide will lay her egg in a bee-eater’s nest. T at doesn’t sound so bad, but in fact this


bird is a nest parasite. She hasn’t just put an egg in the borrowed nest. She’s put a killer in there. T e honeyguide egg hatches before the


bee-eater’s eggs. T e chick chips its way out of its shell. T is chick is blind and featherless, but deadly. It has two sharp hooks at the end of its bill. When the bee-eater chicks hatch, the honeyguide chick squirms its way across the nest to find them. T en it stabs the other chicks with its barbed bill. It bites and shakes them until they die. Now, the honeyguide is the only chick leſt


in the nest. T e bee-eaters raise it as their own. It grows big and strong, gobbling all the food the bee-eater parents bring to the nest.


A greater honeyguide chick uses its deadly bill to peck its way out of its egg.


WORDWISE


behavioral trait: the way an animal acts in order to survive


camoufl age: colors and markings that let an organism to blend into its surroundings


parasite: an organism that benefi ts by living on or in another organism, often harming that organism


a greater honeyguide MAY 2014 9


The Truth About Birds T ese birds may seem mad or just plain bad.


T ey peck. T ey steal. T ey barf. T ey kill. Take a closer look, though. T ere’s a good reason for each instance of foul behavior. T ese birds are just doing what they have to


do to survive. T ey use their behavioral traits to fi nd food and to defend themselves and their young. T ey’re making sure there will be many more angry birds for years to come.


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