Hello subscribers, Geoffrey has allowed me to forward his response to me,
as I find it interesting on a number of points.
1. It’s an early breeding event, my back dating suggests round the
middle of September/perhaps earlier as the juvenile seems quite advanced, and
noting that my Column in the October Gang-gang indicates "While the Pallid
Cuckoo and the Horsfield’s and
Shining Bronze Cuckoo have all been
reported from after the first week of September, numbers have been low so far,
and early signs are that it will be another poor season for cuckoos in the
ACT.”!!
2.
The association between the juvenile and the adult which has been reported for other cuckoos, and in our
area in particular the Eastern/Pacific Koel, though much later in the season
(sometimes attributed to passing information on where to go for
winter!).
3. No sign of the foster parent despite the
begging – there should be a number of possibilities, probably with a
domed-shaped nest.
4. I have checked my records and can confirm
we’ve only recorded the H B-C once (2008) during 11 nest workshops, again around
the horse crossing.
Hopefully it will still be around in 10 days time on
16/10!
Jack Holland
From:
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2014 7:17 AM
To:
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] on plumage
differences
Jack - yes last week
very near the horse crossing. It was interesting that the juv was being
attended (begging from but not being fed by that I could see) by the
adult. Couldn’t get a shot with both in focus. I particularly
noticed that the juv had the rufous edged tail already.
g
From:
Jack & Andrea Holland [
Sent:
Tuesday, 4 November 2014 8:57 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] on
plumage differences
Geoffrey,
very interesting about the eye colour, though it’s the black eye (ear?) stripe
(plus the rufous edged-tail not visible on these photos) that I would normally
use to separate both the juvenile and adult H B-C from the Shining B-C,
especially as the adult depicted seems to me very barred compared with many you
see.
I’m assuming
it’s this year’s young as well as recently taken? If so we’ll keep a keen
look out for them during the nest workshop on 16 November, as we more often
see/hear the Shining, but very little indication of
breeding.
Sent:
Tuesday, November 04, 2014 10:14 AM
Subject:
[canberrabirds] on plumage differences
Comparison of juv (left) and adult
(right) Horsfield ‘s Bronze-Cuckoos, Campbell Park. Note eye
colour
