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| You're not biting me |
In the photo above, Boss Burra evades almost
certain attack from his “Problem Child”. That's Bully Baby on the right, crouched
& ready to strike.
On occasions, my Kookaburra family will sit in the
back trees and there will be squabbles.
These are displayed as “beak jousting”. They
grab each other’s beaks and each tries to pry the other off its perch.
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| an example of jousting (Source: Bob Denton) |
I think this a hierarchy thing. It never seems to
get too aggressive & only last a few seconds.
And then there is Bully Baby Burra:
Didn’t he show his form from an early age!
While still a fledgling he would pick on his
sibling (Brave Baby Burra), to the extent of forgoing food in preference to
giving him a hard time. At the time I put that down to a nest thing. Multiple
chicks in the nest vying for food & their parents’ attention.
But his aggression soon spread to the others. It
didn’t matter the rank or relationship. There was no quarter given to anyone. They
all copped it (and still do).
I mentioned this to my local vet, and due to
Bully’s age, he didn’t believe it to be a territorial behaviour. He thinks
Bully Baby is just a problem child.
The social relationships that have resulted due to
this are interesting. When he flies up and lands next one of the family, they usually
jump to another branch or tree (lest they get bitten).
All but Bitey Burra. Bully Baby seems to have
forged some sort of relationship with his older brother.
They often sit side by side. This doesn’t make
Bitey immune from attack, he cops it, but only a fraction of the time.
This was one of those times.
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| surprise, surprise |
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