Would a tricolor heron kill anhinga chicks? (1 Viewer)

In South Florida, a regular wetlands area I visit has several busy rookeries - a few large patches of cypress and other water tree islands where many dozens of birds will nest - often, they'll follow each other, using the same nest as their nesting seasons are staggered, so anhinga and cormorant nests become great blue heron nests which become egret nests.

My question came about yesterday while taking photos of the birds on the island - a nest which I had been photographing anhinga chicks in over the past 3 weeks or so, was suddenly occupied by a tricolor heron, but the anhinga chicks wouldn't have been old enough to have flown. Looking closer, what looked like some scraps of feather and droppings hanging over and below the nest ended up being one or two dead carcasses of anhinga chicks. My initial thought was that they died - it's not uncommon for heron, egret, anhinga, and other nests to lose a few chicks...but then the question popped into my head, for which I do not know the answer - could the tricolor heron have chased off the anhinga mother, and killed the chicks, to get at the nest?

If anyone knows heron behavior or any precedent to confirm or deny this, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.

Herons round here eat most things. The list includes frogs, snakes, birds etc.

I'm guessing that the same would apply there....

According to BNA-online, apart from insects, crustaceans & "frogs" taken mainly when "super abundant", Tricolors feed almost exclusively on fish. There's not even mention of any other vertebrate food. With regard to mixed breeding colonies, Tricolors are described as tending to minimize conflicts with other species by siting their nests on the fringes. So, if indeed Tricolors were responsible for the deaths of your Anhinga chicks, the behavior appears not to have been particularly typical.

Here's a photo of the tricolor sitting on the newly acquired anhinga nest, with the dead chick hanging over the side:
http://g4.img-dpreview.com/72F1C7C4BF414BF7A579505D8ECC0598.jpg

I've seen tricolors fight with green herons to try to chase them off their nests, but never to the death - usually just a squabble over the nest. And I've seen tricolor herons take over other nests once their done.

The only part that had me wondering is that the anhingas were clearly not ready to leave the nest, and one lies dead in the nest - did the anhinga chick or chicks die from other causes, and the mother abandoned the nest when her chicks died, or did the tricolor chase her off and kill the chicks to take the nest for itself?

I'm glad to hear so far that most don't think this normal behavior.