At 22:37 30/08/2000 +1000, you wrote:
>Hi birders,
>
>Maybe someone can answer this puzzle. Near where I live on the Central
Coast of NSW a family of kookaburras about 12 have started an unusual
occupation.
>
>Every afternoon for the last week at about 4.30pm -daylight saving - one
of these birds picks up a rock (about 45mm in dia) and begins to hit it on
the fence - post and rail fence - When he\she drops the rock, flys down
picks it up and starts again. Today 2 kookaburras did this and then flew
into the trees with a rock each, dropped it and came back picked up another
rock and started all over again.
>
>Originally just one bird was doing this, now sometimes two. The home owner
is fast running out of rocks and looks like having to find some more for the
birds because when they drop them from the trees they land in thick
undergrowth, so the birds just get a new rock. The home owner is quite
fascinated by this behaviour., Has anyone any idea as to why the birds are
behaving in this manner.
>Dellas.
>
Hi Dellas
Just a guess that this might be some form of play.
There are just a few scattered reports of other species of kingfishers
banging inanimate objects on their perch, as they would in killing a
prey item.
Cheers
Pete
Dr Peter Woodall email =
Division of Vet Pathology & Anatomy
School of Veterinary Science. Phone = +61 7 3365 2300
The University of Queensland Fax = +61 7 3365 1355
Brisbane, Qld, Australia 4072 WWW = http://www.uq.edu.au/~anpwooda
"hamba phezulu" (= "go higher" in isiZulu)
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