|
G'day All,
Reading Judie Peets' story about mistletoebirds
bought back memories,about five years ago,my friend Lizzy Lewis,visited me on my
20 acre scrub block, just out of Berri,she went to look at my resident
White-winged Choughs' nest (it seems she is always looking at birds nests..aye ?
hi hi)..it was not long after a wind storm,and she soon came running back to say
that the nest was on the ground and the three babes were being eaten by ants,we
cleaned them up and I put them into an icecream container with a manmade nest,
which I then wired into a nearby tree,the adults looked on with interest, the
young spent their first night inside with me..the nights were cold,the next day
the adults began to feed them but would not sit on them at night,so each night
for two weeks I covered them with a towel,getting up before daylight to remove
the towel before the adults could see what was going on,for a few days I gave
the young a bit of extra food to help them along,it was easy to do as they
couldn't see and would beg on any noise or movement at the nest.It was
interesting to see the adults providing shade on hot days,with wings
outspread..I wonder do they take this into consideration when selecting a nest
site ?The three chicks all fledged successfully and are probably still part of
the large group that come daily for my wheat handouts at my front door and nest
three or four times each year on my block.
Cheers Doug Holly
|
