canberrabirds

Juvenile.Koel

To: 'John Harris' <>, 'chatline' <>
Subject: Juvenile.Koel
From: "" <>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 06:43:22 +0000

John, thank you for this interesting posting.

 

I may be misinterpreting your message, but it is most unlikely that the male Koel would be feeding the fledgling since the species is a brood parasite (it’s a cuckoo).  It’s most likely that the Red Wattlebird you have seen around is the host, as it has been for all but a couple of the 300+ fledglings in the ACT that I’m aware of.

 

You have, however, made a very important observation of an adult male associating/interacting with a fledgling, something for which there is now quite a bit of evidence as included in my summaries of the past seasons written up in CBN (see for example http://canberrabirds.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CBN-43-3-final.pdf ).  There are also examples of other birds interacting with fledglings, including the Pied Currawong.

 

Regards

 

Jack Holland

 

From: John Harris <>
Sent: Saturday, 18 January 2020 5:02 PM
To: chatline <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Juvenile.Koel

 

A juvenile koel has been hanging around my backyard and nearby trees for the past three days. It gives away its location by its constant cheep – cheep -cheeping. I have seen a male, presumably the parent, nearby and in my heavily-laden plum trees which I take to be the reason they hang about here. I have seen this male on the branch beside the juvenile although I have not actually seen him feeding it. I presume he does.

Their presence creates great interest among other birds, red wattle birds, etc. Even the currawongs are interested for some reason.

 

 

 

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email . If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU