This topic surprises me. I don’t think that poking the chick in the backside is half as bad as caking it with olives!!
From: Sue Lashko [
Sent: Sunday, 27 December 2015 2:50 PM
To: canberrabirds chatline <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] a delicate topic
This morning in Aranda Bushland, I saw something I had not seen before - an Olive-caked Oriole chick which fledged on Xmas Day being repeatedly prodded in the rear end by one of its parents. Clearly this was not a pleasant experience as
the chick was doing a lot of squawking and trying to present its beak rather than its bum to the offending adult. (Yes, I can feel a Geoffrey Dabb cartoon being created!). This went on for at least 4 minutes and I thought it might be some weird form of toilet
training and that the adult might end up with a faecal sac - but, no.
Can anyone enlighten me as to what this apparently painful experience was all about?
