My Burra Family: February 2016

Kym

Last November I had a pair of Eastern Koels arrive. These guys fly down from New Guinea each year and leave for home around March. So much about these guys fascinate me, so settle down while I explain.

Besides their looks, and they are spectacular, it’s what they do.

They are Brood Parasites. That means they lay their eggs in another birds nest for them to rear. Bloody good move when you see what this kid eats. Typically they use Wattlebirds, Friarbirds & Pee Wee's as their host. It’s a mystery why they pick these small birds & not one’s similar in size to them?

Well, I have 2 of these 3 potential hosts that visit the Tapas Bar. Red & Little John (turns out he’s a she), they are Red Wattlebirds, and Pernicious & Pedro, the Pee Wees.

Red, the male Red Wattlebird.

Pedro, the male Pee Wee.

Seems, that one bird’s misfortune, is another man’s fortune. This year Red & Little John drew the short straw. This was lucky for me because these 2 are constantly visiting the Tapas every day, so I thought I was a good chance they would visit bringing their foster bub.

Not only did they visit, but so did their biological parents. The parents visiting was a real bonus as these shy & reclusive birds normally hang in the tree tops.

What to name them? I wanted something Aussie that readers would recognise. I selected Kath & Kym (you know from the TV show).

I was telling me Sister of my good fortune & the names I’d selected. To which she informed me that Kym was a girl. Bugger. “Haven’t you ever watched their show Brad” she asked. Obviously not.
With names for Mum & Dad, that left me with Bub and I had the perfect name for her.
Storm.
Koels are also known as Storm birds. They herald in approaching storms on those hot summer arvos, that, and she was born into stormy times.

So back to Dad, the poorly named Kym.

The next morning, the Tapas Bay had been laid, Headley set up. Ready for whoever turned up.
And I couldn’t believe my luck. Kym came in for a drink at the Tranquillity Pool. Finished, he turned his attention to the Tapas Bar. I held my breath.

It was the mango that caught his eye.

Kym's first visit

Being his first visit, he was cautious, checking out everything. He scared the shit out of Headley.

His first visit, he was on tender hooks.

Standing tall looking around offered me this photo.

Fireworks went off.

Nervous, He looks in all directions.

This is the stare that scared the shit out of Headley

But Headley stood his ground (it was like he was rooted to the spot).

Checking out the mango smoothie, Kym was startled & flew off before even sampling it.

What the .... was that

I hoped this wasn't my last photo of Kym

Bugger.

As luck would have it, he returned the very next day.
Today however was going to be a little tricky. Yesterday the pulp was used for smoothies, today he had to deal with the pip. These are slippery suckers and it was funny watching him deal with it.

Kym is learning what we all know....

How frustrating trying to eat a Mango pip is.

I'll have your guts for garters.

A couple of days later he returned. It was late in the arvo. Most of the food had been eaten. I was going to down and get Headley. I'm so glad I didn't. I got some of my best photos of Kym in this session.

These guys eat the fruit/berries from palm trees. Lots & lots of them.

This is how they get rid of them.

Hack, hack, hack, hack

hack, hack, .....

AHHHH.
That feels so much better.

On his next and last visit he turned into a griffin and flew off.

Actually he got swooped by Red and burred up but what’s romantic about that?

Shit! Here comes trouble.

Time to turn into a Griffin

This I find really interesting. Both Red & Little John give Kath & Kym such a hard time every time they see them. They obviously see them as a threat. What’s interesting is that while all this is going on they are in fact raising the Koels chick.

So to the Wattlebirds, they’ve already hatched their egg, so it can’t be that they think the Koels are egg or chick eaters (Koels are vegetarian. Eating fruit & figs found in the tops of trees, but you would swear looking at Kym, he was a Raptor) so why are they into them at every opportunity?

Now for the interesting part.

The arrival of Storm. I was shocked at her size. She is a giant.

Storm

Easily 3 times bigger than her foster parents.

How do the Wattlebirds not pick up that this chick isn’t theirs?

A mystery, but one easily solved, the baby chick sounds like a baby Wattlebird chick.

They mimic the call for the chick the parents are expecting to hear.

Now here’s the real mystery. How do they know which call to make.

A Wattlebird’s chick call is different to a Pee Wee’s and so on. Yet the baby knows exactly the call to make.

Wow hey.

Well, not only do they do that, but because of their size & constant need for food,………………..

Wait for it………………they can call like a brood of chicks, so both parents think they are feeding 3 or 4 chicks.

Storm would sit in the tree behind my place and beg. Both Red & Little john were almost a tag team in feeding her. One would come to the Tapas Bar, grab a beak full & fly the 30 meters to feed her. While one was doing that, the other was at the Tapas Bar. They would eat a fair bit themselves before flying back to bub. It must burn a heap of energy doing this all day.

After watching this for a week or so, Storm ventured down on her own to the Tapas Bar to feed herself.
What I had hoped for.

But did she land too bloody close to Headley? I wouldn’t know for a few hours until I uploaded to my PC. Well, she did a little, but I was stoked to have got what I wanted.

The thing I wanted to capture most was Red or Little John feeding her. I couldn't believe my luck with what happened next.

This is.............

Truly.....................

A Mothers love

Over the next couple of weeks she visited a few times. Kim hasn’t been back & I’m still hoping for Kath’s first visit.

Storm provided a heap of interesting photos.

So while all this Wattlebird rearing Koel chick thing is going on, Kath & Kim are constantly around calling & watching.

If I was Little John

I'd be thinking...

Dear Lord....

Don't let her sneeze.

Ready for another amazing fact on these guys.
The chick, unlike most birds that imprint with the first thing they see, wait.

They wait until their speech has developed from a Wattlebird chick begging call to a Koel bird call.

With Storm it was 4 weeks or so after her first intro, that she made her first call. Well sort of.

She then waits to see who answers & it’s them she imprints to. That’s how she knows she’s a Koel & not a Wattlebird.
More interesting is that Kath & Kym will leave in a few weeks before her, to fly back north to New Guinea.

How does Storm know where to go?

It’s been a couple of weeks and Red & Little John have stopped feeding Storm, though she still begs.

She hasn’t been back which is interesting as she is always in view of the Tapas Bar.

Now her biological mum Kath has turned up. Late in the arvo she’s popped in for a drink from the Tranquillity Pool for the last few days. Normally too late for Headley.

So I set up the Tapas Bar & Headley late one day, and she turned up. I can’t tell you how chuffed I was. I had the whole family now.