Hi Del and Birding-ausers,
Quite a few years ago at Port Macquarie I saw a
male koel feeding what looked like a berry to an immature koel, I was never
sure whether it was feeding a young bird or courting a female in immature
plumage.
Several times over the years I have seen immature
and adult cuckoos together. Koels and Shining Bronze Cuckoos are two that
come to mind. I am sure there is some kind of a bond
there.
In the early 1990's I saw a male and female koel
apparently supervising Red Wattlebirds feeding two koel young, one of these
young was beginning to get black (male) adult plumage.
I am sure we still have a lot to learn about our
birds.
Bruce Cox.
In many years of observing I have not noted any
ineraction between the larger cuckoos with immatures although I ve come
accross records in literature. At Gracemere near Rockhampton Q. in late May
1994 I located a pair of Blue-faced Honeyeaters were rearing a young
Koel. This is the latest that I had seen a cuckoo being fostered.
In February 2002 in riverside
vegetation beside the Daintree an adult Gould's Bronze-cuckoo had an
immature in tow and feed it with insects on two occassions as we
watched. The young bird was begging and there was no sign of any foster
parents. This proves that they have some form of parenting instinct at
least.
Regards,
Del. Richards, Fine Feather Tours, Mossman,
NQ.
