I should also have added the following behaviour was reported:
Steve
From:
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Sent: Saturday, 10 October 2026 3:31 PM
To:
Cc: 'CanberraBirds email list' <>
Subject: RE: [Canberrabirds] Pallid Cuckoo feeding Pallid Cuckoo - female or young bird?
Steve, many thanks for posting this very interesting bit of research.
I had seen the photos and had been wondering without having done the detective work. One thing that did strike me was how early it was for a young Pallid Cuckoo to be around, given that (as taken from my October Gang-gang column) “After
the very early report of the Pallid Cuckoo on 5 August, and 2 other locations in the previous period (up to 24 August), this species seems relatively well established with reports from 15 locations during the period (up to 27 September).”
Interestingly Campbell Park was not one of these locations, with the first report from there on eBird being of a single bird on 4 October, with the only other close recent report being from Mt Ainslie on 7/10/26.
Looking at BIRD INFO on the Canberra Bird web site supports that it would be a very early dependent young, particularly that the bird being fed seems close to full size. This show 3 cases of copulation in September, 3 also of display that
month as well as 6 in October, and while there are 2 records of dependent young in October, there are also only 2 in November but 11 and 19 in December and January, respectively.
The above raises the question not only what age are these 2 birds, but also where did they suddenly come from?
Jack Holland
From:
Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of steve.read123--- via Canberrabirds
Sent: Saturday, 10 October 2026 10:48 AM
To:
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Pallid Cuckoo feeding Pallid Cuckoo - female or young bird?
Hi all
I have read with interest the recent reports of five Painted Honeyeaters on Mount Ainslie, but have not ventured out to see them – partly to minimise any disturbance but I
did also watch this species in the same tree a few years ago.
Equally interesting however has been reading about the Pallid Cuckoo individuals at the same site, in particular the interaction between these cuckoos. This has been well described
and often photographed, as follows:
In most cases the recipient bird remained in a tree while the donor bird repeatedly flew off, collected then returned with grubs or caterpillars, and fed the begging recipient.
Sometimes the donor bird was also calling repeatedly.
The plumage of the two individuals differed (best seen in the images at
https://ebird.org/checklist/S399918130) but someone more experienced will need to explain whether the bird being fed is a female or a young bird. Any takers?
Hanzab (https://hanzab.birdlife.org.au/species/pallid-cuckoo/) notes
“Young often reported to be fed, mostly caterpillars, by adult Pallid Cuckoos (Greenwood 1910; Hanscombe
1915; Learmonth 1949; Lamm & White 1950; Cooper 1958; Harrison 1995; Campbell; North); such behaviour described as either deliberative, where adult Cuckoo feeds young or juvenile exclusively, or adventitious, when adult Cuckoo assists host-parents in feeding
young (Nichols 1998).”
and
“many reports of supposed fledgeling Cuckoos being fed by adult Cuckoos (Brown 1936; Le Souëf 1943; Jackson
1949; Learmonth 1949; Kikkawa & Dwyer 1962; Watts 1993; Campbell; North), in some cases assisting host-parents or other birds that are feeding young Cuckoos (Hanscombe 1915; Cooper 1958). Many reports probably instances of courtship feeding by adults that
have been misinterpreted as a result of incorrect ageing of birds observed (see
Plumages,
Sexing). Cases where young Cuckoos being fed by adult Cuckoos and supposed host-parents (or other birds) at same time more difficult to dismiss as incorrect ageing and misidentification of courtship feeding and are probably genuine cases of adults feeding
young, though not necessarily their own.”
So either option is a possibility.
Regards to all
Steve
