canberrabirds

a delicate topic

To: 'Sue Lashko' <>, 'canberrabirds chatline' <>
Subject: a delicate topic
From: David Rosalky <>
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2015 11:23:00 +0000

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?

 

Cheers

Sue

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