výroční zpráva 2009 ( 4,12 MB ) - Zoo Ostrava

it was found that one egg was impregnated, with live embryo inside, while two were clean and one probablyaddled. All the eggs were put back into the nest. As of 20 June, a change in birds' behaviour was noted, withseriemas often seen to sit just on their heels. On 23 June, a chick could be seen through an inspection window.The quantity of mice and zophobas worms in the diet was increased and pinkie mice added. Food was offeredthree times a day, with pinkie mice preferred by the birds. Whole mice that the adults ate before were nowtorn by the parent and offered to the chick. After a week, the parents could be often seen leaving the nest.On 2 July, the clean eggs were taken away. When the young one was 14 days old, the parents stayed mostlyoutside, going indoors just to feed the juvenile, who was already able to stand or hop around. On 9 July (day16), the young bird started calls similar to those of adults, being however still able to make only 3-4 whistlesof the seriema song. On 12 July (day 19), the juvenile was out in the enclosure in the morning, without goingback during the day, and was not found indoors before 20 July. Still fed by the parents, the young bird wasalready able to pick food alone on 25 July; in addition, it also could jump on a log 80 cm high. Two days later,it could fly up to the perch placed 2 metres high.The adults started staying frequently on the nest again; on 29 July, the female laid the first egg, withsubsequently a total of four laid once again as confirmed by checking later on. On 22 August, the sitting birdswere often getting up and arranging the nest. On 28 August, all birds stayed outdoors, so the eggs could bechecked by a candle lamp. In three eggs, hatching had already started - there was a hole 1 cm large in eachof them and chick call could be heard. One egg was addled. On 29 August, three chicks were seen. The birdswere supplied with enough food 3-4 times a day. The three juveniles were reared by the parents alike theprevious one, with parents' efforts now tripled. As the adults preferred mice tails in feeding the young, thetails from the mice to be fed to owls were added as well (15-20 pieces per day). No competition was observedamidst the young birds, with all of them being equal in size and any suspected cainism unconfirmed. Asthere was no chance to separate the older juvenile, the bird remained with the parents. In the beginning, theyoung bird was chased away by the adults when ranging near the nest - sometimes even prevented to accessthe food. Fortunately, this situation settled over time, with the adults restarting to feed the older chick thatnow could even stay on the nest. The three smaller chicks left the nest on 22 September. The older juvenilebecame distressed; it started jumping and attacked the younger chicks for several minutes after the firstcontact. As mornings started to be cold and the juveniles were chilly if staying outside, the birds were putindoors at night. The floor was covered with straw in the corners, where the young stayed at night until theylearned to jump on the logs and to the perches later on. On 15 October, the young were sampled for blood todetermine sex. The birds turned out to be two males and two females. A month later, on 19 November, all fouryoung seriemas were transferred to Parc Monde Sauvage, Belgium. Nesting in the 2009 season was special,with surprising number of eggs in the first clutch (seriemas usually lay two eggs rather than four), but thesecond clutch with the same number of eggs while the birds were still rearing the young bird from the firstclutch was even a bigger amazement. The fact that seriemas are attractive and favourite birds for visitors aswell could be evidenced by the frequent asking where the seriemas had disappeared and when they wouldbe on display again.59