Red-necked Crakes

[Phil Gregory <>]

It is  still amazingly hot and humid here near Kuranda in far north
Queensland, much hotter than usual and with rainfall about 30% of the normal.
This has delayed breeding in the Red-necked Crakes this season,
as over the past couple of years we have been seeing young from the first
brood in December, with a second brood in February during 2001.
        We were getting worried,
as despite the usual pre-wet season calling in November, there was no sign
of any young. That was the case until Feb 24 2002, when I heard the distinctive
high pitched shrilling calls from within a dense flower bed, and was able
to watch the adult pair coming in to feed them on worms and grubs. This
pair here also have a great liking for cheese, I guess the high fat content
is to their liking, and they will readily come to take it.
        There are 3 youngsters this
time, we have seen up to 5 at once in previous years but 3 or 4 seem more
the norm. These birds were not newly hatched, as the very new ones are
about the size of an animated table tennis ball with little stick legs,
and these are clearly a fair bit larger than that, though less than a week
old I'd say.
        They are a sort of fluffy
matt greyish black, with black legs and eyes, though the bill has small
whitish patches at the base of the centre part of the upper mandible, edged
with black at the sides and with a median dividing line. The pin feathers
of the primaries are just barely showing, and their fluffy stumpy tails
are flicked upwards as they walk, just like the habit of the adults. They
are quite vocal and you can hear them shrilling at close range, the sound
only travelling a few metres, whilst the adults have a quiet grunting which
seems to be a sort of contact call to keep the group together.
Threats to the babies here would include snakes and monitors, though
last year we did get 3 up to being fully fledged, disappearing after a
cyclone. There are two pairs which have our house as a part of their ranges,
which may actually overlap, as one set seem much shyer and less confiding
than the others.
The Brush-turkeys chase them unmercifully and try to steal their
food, and Spotted Catbirds have been seen to have a go at such piracy
as well. Everyone gets out of the way of the Cassowaries though,
with the three 6 month old chicks now colouring up, with bluish starting
to appear on their heads. Father is very patient with them, a sort of model
parent, and lets them grab almost all the food, only taking an occasional
morsel for himself and even letting them pull it out of his beak at times!
(Any comments re the above please direct to me on my eddress, not
via birding-aus- thanks)

Phil Gregory
Cassowary House
Kuranda

www. cassowary-house.com.au