Good news for us here is that our male Cassowary is back, he left June
24 to go on the nest, and reappeared Sept 22 with 3 tiny stripy
chicks, after a rather longer absence than usual. As always, one chick
is more inquisitive than the others, I was there taping and
photographing them this morning and the chick came over to peer up at
me. Taping the peeping calls has been an exercise in frustration, as
noisy roadworks began yesterday when I was recording, and today the
gas man started banging cylinders about. I am trying to get the low
trisyllabic male departure call as well as the quiet peeping contact
calls of the babies. The female is also around almost daily, and
interacted quite peaceably with the male and the chicks yesterday,
often the male gets agitated if she comes too close at this stage.
Last year he had 3 chicks also, but they disappeared overa 6 week
period one by one, probably coincident with the two huge amethysrtine
pythons that arrived the day the chicks came in! The chicks never
looked particularly healthy either last year, let's hope for a result
this time.
Phil Gregory
www. cassowary-house.com. au
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