A few days ago a pallid cuckoo fledging announced itself in our yard by its constant calling. Upon locating it we found a pair of spiny cheeked honeyeaters feeding it. We didn't hear it yesterday and wondered where it had got to. When I heard it this morning I tracked it down and as I was watching it sitting on top of the bower another pallid cuckoo flew over my head!
Both birds are being fed by spiny cheeked honeyeaters.
I wonder how far apart they were raised? Are they siblings? Our garden is probably the area with the most resources in Wilmington where we live. A lot of trees and bushes and ponds. We join on to 20 acres of bushland but our garden has much higher diversity of birds than the bushland. It may be that these two pallids have just found the best feeding areas or they were eggs close together and close to here.
I have the impression that the spiny cheeked foster parents are quite bonded to the pallids. They are not nestlings with yellow gape showing. They fly and spiny cheeks follow with food. Pallids are making no attempt to feed themselves-just cheep. It seems to me quite natural for the spiny cheeks to become attached to their foster children.
The pallids are a welcome addition to the garden.
Gary
