birding-aus Female cassowary

[Gregory <>]

Hello David,
We do actually know that the male cassowary is meant to raise the
chicks, but it looks as if auntie (the big female) hasn't read her copy
of HANZAB. She and the male kept together with his brood of 4 (then 3)
chicks from September up until cyclone Rona in February, when he went
off on his own and left her with the brood of 3 survivors. They stayed
together until this week, and now the chicks have to fend for
themselves. This brood appeared in June 1998 and are certainly well out
of sync in behaviour. We await developments with great interest.
Regards
Phil Gregory

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