Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Wasp eating carrion

Last night a fox caught and eat a juvenile herring gull and we found the wings on the back lawn.
It was probably killed down the track where there were gull feathers and maybe brought to our garden as it was more secluded.
Possibly a juvenile that attempted its first flight and ended up on the ground. I checked the two nests I have been watching and the juvenile was not from either nest. 

The black ants had already moved in. The wings were laying underside up and I turned them over to check they were from a juvenile.
A minute later a wasp appeared and landed on the wing it then made its way to the base of the wings where some flesh was attached.  


The wasp proceeded to chew away at it before flying off - I guess to feed wasp larvae.

While this was the first time I had witnessed this apparently it is not uncommon for social wasps to visit carrion in this way.

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