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birding-aus Nesting News from Lord Jim's Domain

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Subject: birding-aus Nesting News from Lord Jim's Domain
From: Laurence and Leanne Knight <>
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 22:10:10 +1000
After a week or two of inaction in Lord Jim's chambers, I was starting
to get the impression that the mating game was over for the year, but lo
and behold, there were egg layings on consecutive mornings earlier this
week.

Then this morning, as a testament to Lord Jim's management skills, a
chick emerged from the mound shortly after dawn [I just happened to be
in the vicinity].  It quickly made its way into the shelter of a pile of
nearby sticks then emerged a few minutes later for a brief poke around
in the ferns [I got the impression that it was searching for a spot of
tucker] before setting off to find its way in the world.

I've also been keeping an eye on a nesting tawny frogmouth.  It looks
like one of Tolkien's dwarves and has its nest in a handy fork 10 metres
off the ground.  I can't really tell how many chicks it has [I can only
see one at a time], but junior often seems to be restless when I pass
through the neighbourhood in the late afternoon.  Junior seems to be
pretty well developed and about 1/2 the length of Senior with well
feathered wings.  When Junior decides it is time to move from one side
of the fork to shelter under Senior, Senior has no say in the matter. 
It is rather comical watching them as they squeeze around each other
[with a spot of wing waving as Junior works to avoid falling off the
perch].  For some reason, none of the birds you'd expect to hassle a
frogmouth - crows, miners, currawongs - seem to notice them and so they
appear to be undisturbed.

The joys of late spring ...

Regards, Laurie.
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