Zoologist Ronald Nussbaum of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and his colleagues made the distasteful discovery while studying B. taitanus nests in captivity (the worms are native to southeastern Kenya).
Only females have been observed building nests in the wild, though males, females, and young have been observed building nests in captivity.
Brood management would guarantee that if more than one hen harrier nested in any 10km/sq area of grouse moor, government scientists would remove additional nests, raise the chicks in captivity and release the young birds into lowland areas.
What did work was to take young birds from Western and Northern peregrine nests and raise them together in captivity in broods, to prevent them from imprinting on humans.
A young hawk taken from a nest in the wild or bred in captivity is known as an eyas.
Apprentices are not, however, allowed to take a young hawk from the nest or to purchase one bred in captivity, because if a hawk acquired from these sources is lost before its training has been completed, it will be unable to hunt for itself.
The plan includes smuggling eggs laid in captivity into wild nests, tracking the impact of predators such as sugar gliders which eat the young, and, if necessary, hand-feeding the nestlings of negligent parents.
These orioles were not in captivity, but rather shacked up in nest in a tree in the parking lot for the zoo's Bronxdale entrance.
They are conducting a count, not of the 200 different species of birds in captivity for exhibit, but of the species nesting and breeding outside the zoo's exhibits, yet still on the 265-acres of zoo property.
Therefore, even in captivity, they will readily breed when given nesting material.
