Death of a green heron chick

I have been photographing the Green Herons in the Upper Lobe for the past four years. During that time I have seen a lot of interesting sights. This year I watched as four chicks were hatched and began to grow. For reasons unknown, three chicks grew rapidly but one did not. Ten days after hatching the runt of the brood was significantly smaller than its siblings and could not compete effectively for food. One Monday, July 24th at 8:33 am the small chick died. I photographed the sequence of events leading up to the small chick's death and offer the images below with my comments.

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