Very windy yesterday - tree-bendingly so - and the babies stayed in nest tree for most of the day. Parents ventured out occasionally but by the time the wind eased the babies were very hungry. An open beak - always ready to receive. It's getting harder to tell the difference between parent and baby size-wise, about a cm in it I'd say. Of course the babies are easy to locate with their almost constant 'I'm here, feed me' chirp.
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Or the Laughing Kookaburra if your Latin needs brushing up. These two (am hoping they're a pair) have recently taken up perching rights on the LW's manna gum. Have just read that, as well as mating for life, kookaburras tend to stay in the same place too. There have been several instances of territorial calling each day this past week - the majority from this tree. Perhaps they'll stay on?
There seems to be one fairly cautious fledgling that stays in the same bottlebrush to feed while the other is chasing parents around for food and exploring every plant within range, even spending time on the ground. On the Thursday they experienced their first thunderstorm and, at the first clap, high-tailed it to the nest tree with, well, lightning speed.
If you are familiar with the story behind these... you'll understand the significance of this... The lone Fan-tailed Cuckoo pauses from calling to pick off another Tree Lucerne Moth Caterpillar from its larder of many hundreds.
Not sure if she has a headwind or tailwind... The European Goldfinches seem to be here to stay. I naively supposed they'd escaped from an aviary - but apparently they're fairly widespread - especially in southern SA. They do have a pleasant vocal repertoire though. Back to cuckoo and caterpillars - bit silly of me to talk of happy endings in a circular process. The acacia shrubs are massively infested again - will leave caterpillars to them. Lone cuckoo is still around so it will probably get another feast in a few weeks - I checked other photo and it was early Nov two years ago when it cleaned up the last time.
I went outside with the intention of going off to do some gardening but was beguiled by the antics of the LW babies. Took 90 photos from front verandah and later had the delightful difficulty of choosing which ones to share. A couple of pics are slightly out of focus, but I smiled when I saw them and hope that you will too. What a joy to witness the babies exploring the world and tasting everything it has to offer - I do feel most fortunate.
Went out onto verandah this morning to be greeted by the sight of a LW baby in buddlejah tree opposite - just sitting on a branch staring back.
Wanted to share these pics of an Australian Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius, subspecies barnadi - Mallee Ringneck) before they get lost in the increasingly chaotic filing system that was once my computer desktop. Think this parrot is a male - he is certainly the bluest Mallee Ringneck I've seen and, I think, quite lovely.
Big day yesterday for the babies - first they fluttered over to the toothbrush grevillea and had a taste of everything.
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