Yesterday I wrote and shared a video about this particular flycatcher’s protective nature, but it’s important to note that this behavior isn’t limited solely to the Tropical Kingbird. Neither is the rigorous feeding displayed in the video below. Most birds take good care of their young, whether by bringing meals every couple minutes or by picking up their poop and depositing it away from the nest – which you can see the parent kingbird do at 00:30 and 2:31. I apologize for publishing this in low resolution and pixelating the cuteness, but it’s the best one can do when off-grid in the middle of the Belizean jungle!

You may be asking yourself why the parent bothers to pick up the fledgling’s dropping, called a fecal sac, with convenient portability by a beak. It’s an instinctive action that normally takes place in the nest to keep things tidy and prevent odors from building up and potentially attracting predators or parasites. In this case, the baby bird probably fell out of its nest a little early, so the adult Tropical Kingbird continued its normal cleaning to keep the chick’s patch of lawn from accruing excrement.

As I watched the birds for a good chunk of the afternoon, I saw the parent bring a little meal to the fledgling every three to ten minutes – basically as fast as it could catch a flying insect. At one point in the video above you can see the tail end of a white butterfly being shoved into the baby’s mouth; unfortunately I missed its capture and initial delivery, which must have looked amusing.

We’re at the tail end of most North American birds’ breeding season by now, but if you find any baby birds yourself, be sure to check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s recommendations on what to do before you take any action.