Finally had a young bird in the back yard today, after tracing the calling to a large Dawson River Callistemon. This is exactly 100 days since I first noted the return of the species in this area. Although it was calling persistently,
I would take it to be a ‘mover-through’, based on the length of the tail and its flying off for 2 flights of 20-30m. Although it was calling persistently I did not see it being fed, and it had probably moved from the home territory of its foster parents.
It seemed to be in the company of a male that was giving bursts of calling – what I call the yodelling call, a kind of ‘wurroo-oodle-oo’. Perhaps of most interest was that the male (quite shy and only glimpsed in the depths of a deciduous tree) had sub-adult
plumage, perhaps in final stages of post-juvenile moult.
