Blog Post Image: Is Self-Fumigation for the Birds?

University of Utah doctoral student Sarah Knutie holds finch nestlings she studied while in Ecuador’s Galapagos National Park. She ran a study showing that mother finches can self-fumigate their nests by picking up cotton balls treated with a mild pesticide. The chemical kills parasitic, blood-sucking nest fly maggots, increasing the survival of the baby birds. Photo Credit: Emily DiBlasi, University of Utah