A friend sent me this photo of a presumed juvenile Musk Lorikeet in Holt yesterday. His account is below, of what he understood to be an adult and a juvenile that appeared
together in the rain in the backyard of a house they are renovating. If it is actually a juvenile and a feeble flyer how strongly does this suggest a local breeding event, which if so would be the first recorded in the ACT?
“It seemed to be a young bird. It couldn't fly. Everytime it left a branch or the fence it fluttered to the ground. It would then very painstakingly climb up to
height again. It did this maybe 3 times. Twice because I was trying to get closer to get a better picture. After that I kept my distance. There was definitely an adult bird with it that could fly quite well. The adult looked exactly the same and was the
same size. It flew over to the other bird a couple of times but mostly stayed in the branches of a tree above it. One time the "adult" flew over and groomed the "young" bird around the head.”
This is the only photo. Its appearance matches ABG points for juvenile – brown bill, no blue, duller facial red (and probably no bronze on mantel).
Julian
