Hi, thanks to all for the comments on the Stone-curlews.
We need to remember that these are hand-reared birds and so not raised in the company of adults who are aware of the dangers. The birds mentioned in the various emails would all have been raised by their parents and so made aware of predators,
people etc. This could also work in reverse where the young have learnt that people are not a danger and so are more reluctant to fly.
This is one of the problems with translocation projects in general and that is how to ‘teach’ hand reared birds about what is out there.
The eggs of some endangered bird species in New Zealand and elsewhere have been incubated and raised by wild birds of a more common but ecologically similar species and in this way they learn danger from their adopted parents. Interestingly
when the young become adults they do not fixate on the species that they were hatched under. Could we do this with Stone-curlews incubated and raised under chooks? I don’t know.
Chris
