Another possibility is that the "victim" heron was ill. When a Mute Swan was purchased to complete the pair at Madigan Army Hospital about two years ago, the resident bird was extremely aggressive toward it. When the new bird later died, a necropsy revealed that the cause of death was some severe intestinal problem, I believe. We know the resident's behavior wasn't territorial because when another mate was later brought in, they got along fine,...and still are.

-Rolan

vogelfreund at comcast.net wrote:
September 16 '05

Hi Tweets,

This is just a "two cents worth" type of message. But long ago, maybe years, I read somewhere about Westrn(?) Sandpipers turning on one of their own, on a beach, and killing it. I don't recall the reason being stated, though. Maybe they thought the recipient of their justice was a non-conformist.

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham

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Rolan Nelson
Fircrest, WA
rnbuffle at yahoo.com
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