birding-aus
At 18:02 6/03/99 +1100, Gerry Hopkins wrote:
>birding-aus
>
>birding-aus
>
>Hi birders,
>Called on to identify the noisy big baby being fed by a pair of red
wattlebirds by my
>neighbours. Explained that it was a juvenile koel, that it's parents
migrate from N.G. to
>eastern Aus. each summer and eats fruit such as the mulberries next door.
Being a cuckoo
>uses foster parents to raise thier young. Red wattlebirds (honeyaters)
were feeding nectar
>and insects to young koel.
>Question:- How does the young bird learn to eat fruit and how does it
manage to travel
>to N.G.?
> Has anyone seen koels collect their young before
returning to N.G.?
Not exactly. When I lived in Ingham (18*31'S 146*20'E) I watched a
fully-fledged koel chick being fed and cared for by Blue-faced Honeyeaters
nearly half it's size. The koel's natural parents were always around
somewhere in the neighbourhood, but unfortunately I moved with my job
before the annual migration began so cannot confirm whether koels travelled
as a family.
Alex Appleman
Townsville
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