Great blue Heron’s nest mystery (1 Viewer)

[Mila]

On March 17 I filmed a great blue herons nest

On April 12 I observed a scene shown mostly in slow motion in the first part of the video below.

I was looking through my viewfinder and I thought that I was seeing a hungry, aggressive chick demanding food from its parent. However on the next day (April 13) (the clips, starting from 8:30) the chick was no longer in the nest and an adult heron who occupied the nest was displaying. So, the question is what happened to the chick, and assuming the adult it was fighting with, was not its parent, where are its parents?

All clips are of the same nest filmed from different places

 

[Tired]

That chick looks about old enough to fledge. I don't know how Great Blue Herons do fledging- is it possible that was one of the parents chasing a grown chick out of the nest to fend for itself?

 

[Mila]

That chick looks about old enough to fledge. I don't know how Great Blue Herons do fledging- is it possible that was one of the parents chasing a grown chick out of the nest to fend for itself?

I guess, it is possible, but why would a parent risk an injury instead of simply stopping feeding the chick? I mean, it is not like a parent needs this nest to itself to produce more chicks in the same season.

 

[Mila]

I went to check on the nest Today.
Here is what I saw

What was he doing, why he was shaking his head?
He was also displaying (not shown in the video).

I also talked to a lady who was watching the nest much more than I was.
She told me, she has never seen such an aggressive chick, and she believed the chick might have killed its sibling.
She told me it was too early for this chick to fledge. So, something did happen.

 

[Tired]

Maybe I'm anthropomorphizing, but it looks like he's got something going on in the nest that he doesn't like, and is possibly trying to poke at it and figure it out. Or wanting to get rid of it and finding it unpleasant to grab at.

I don't suppose there's an angle where the inside of the nest is visible. If there's a possible dead chick, maybe that's what's in the nest. I don't know how herons feel about rotting carcasses, but I don't imagine they like them much.

 

[Mila]

Maybe I'm anthropomorphizing, but it looks like he's got something going on in the nest that he doesn't like, and is possibly trying to poke at it and figure it out. Or wanting to get rid of it and finding it unpleasant to grab at.

I don't suppose there's an angle where the inside of the nest is visible. If there's a possible dead chick, maybe that's what's in the nest. I don't know how herons feel about rotting carcasses, but I don't imagine they like them much.

I also thought there is a dead chick. However, you saw in another video how big it was. Would it have fit in the nest that nothing at all would have been seen of it?

 

[Tired]

If some scavengers (or enough egg-carrying flies) have gotten to it, there might not be much bulk left. That video really looks to me like something distasteful to the heron is in the nest.

 

[Mila]

If some scavengers (or enough egg-carrying flies) have gotten to it, there might not be much bulk left. That video really looks to me like something distasteful to the heron is in the nest.

I had the same impression, and today the nest was empty. One lady told me she was watching other nests for 2 hours, and the nest in question was empty all that time.