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Unexpexted behavior with Chestnut-breasted Cuckoos.

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Subject: Unexpexted behavior with Chestnut-breasted Cuckoos.
From: Del Richards <>
Date: Wed, 05 May 2010 17:09:51 +1000
I count myself fortunate that having observed my initial Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo in 1994 and that as a guide over the intervening years I would have continued opportunity to learn much about the ecology of this little known species. In late April I encountered a very vocal pair seven days apart in the same location which lead me to believe that they were there to pick up a fledged young (cuckoo),- this I have encountered before. I believe that the constant presence of a calling adult acclimatises the young to venture away from ground level from where they are reared to hunt (mainly) for caterpillars in the foliage. A few years back on birding-aus. I mentioned that Lorna Bloom amd myself witnessed an adult feeding a young bird which followed the parent at height in the trees waiting to be fed. Last Monday I had asked friends from Kuranda, Nanette Fairbairn and Murray Borrell to check out the pair of cuckoos, a species that they had not encountered. It took about ten minutes to call them in only to find that there was one adult and a first year bird ( by plumage a young female). We watched them for about thirty minutes. After five minutes we noticed that the adult had caught a small grey hairy caterpillar. Instead of eating it the adult landed beside the immature bird which did not respond in any way. Over the next twenty minutes this was repeated eleven times before the adult consumed the food item. As I judged the situation the adult was intent on feeding the younger bird. During the twenty minute episode the young ventured into a nearby green tree, caught a similar grub and ate it. It then spent another ten minutes sunbathing with wings and tail spread in the sunlight. Over the years I have noted a number of occassions when adults had immatures in company. I believe that this little known species of cuckoo may take much more interest in their young's wellbeing and this could well be a survival strategy of a species that characteristically exists in low numbers. I have observed them locally well over one hundred times and I am yet to find a fostering species in the Wet Tropics.

Del. Richards, Fine Feather Tours, Mossman, NQ.





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