Two interesting (to me) observations.
1. Report from a Canberra colleague of a Pallid Cuckoo chick being fed by a
male House Sparrow. Is this unusual? It does suggest all sorts of
interesting strategies for dealing with sparrows.
2. Suburbanite Rainbow Loris are making excellent use of our
coddling-moth-riddled apple crop. Parents have been feeding very noisy
offspring by paring out apple and then passing the mash over. Over the past
day or so, they have taken to sitting in a nearby acacia while the kids gasp
and shreik and generally carry on. When the young get too pushy, the parents
'walk away' or hop to another branch. My assumption is that at some point
the parents 'decide' its time for the young to feed themselves, take them to
the food source, but stop feeding them and leave hunger to do the rest. Is
this how the feeding/weaning process generally works or is this something to
do with apples?
Pat O'Malley
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