Kookaburra Games - Tug of War

Let’s play games – Tug of War

 

What has surprised me in this whole feeding relationship, is the level of trust.

These are wild birds that have allowed me to interact with them on a very personal way.

And it’s thru this relationship, I am learning things every day.

One of the games we play is “Tug of War”.

We have 2 versions of this game;

When I feed them by finger & when they have to dig for a feed.

Both have the same result, and that is, a game of tug & war.

Tug of War

Kookaburra Games - Tug of War        

 

Now, if you have ever played tug of war with a dog, you would have probably noticed they growled during the game. Well, it seems Kookaburra do the same thing.

I’m not sure what this call represents.

Kookaburra Games - Tug of War with call        

Kookaburra Games – Worms in holes.

Worms in Holes

 

 

 

In preparation to feed my family of Kookaburra's, I would hide a few cut up bits of meat in my left hand.

 

While one of the family was perched on my right hand, I would feed them a piece of meat held between my fingers.





I then needed to shuffle my left hand under my right so I could transfer some meat back into my fingers to continue. It continued this way for a while.

 

They soon twigged that when my hand disappeared under their perch, it re-appeared with meat. 

They then started to examine my left hand more closely.

I found that if I opened my fist a little, they would see the meat & plunge in their beak as they might if hunting for worms.

 

And....A Kookaburra game was born.

Sometimes there is meat in there, other times – not.

Sometimes the meat comes easy, others times - not.

If I open my fist slightly, they will crane their neck to have a bit of a squiz.

If I hold my fist closed for prolonged time, they tap me on the top of my fist - just to keep me focused. (Don’t tell me Kookaburra's don’t have problem solving capabilities)

Sometimes I close my hand on their beak. This leads to a bewildered look, and then they go straight back in. Not much fazes this crowd.

If I held onto the meat as they were pulling it out, this resulted in a game of tug of war.

(This I’ve covered under another post “Let’s play games - Tug of War”).

 

My "Worms in Hole" vid

Kookaburra Games - Tug of War with call        



 

 



Kookaburra Hand Feeding

A Bird on the Hand is worth two in the Bush



the boys ready for a feed

For me this was easy. I had the essentials – an interest in critters, a resident Kookaburra Family & a place for them to land for hand feeding, in my case the veranda rail.

I haven’t been able to get them to land on my hand direct (but I’m working on it). They prefer to land on the rail & hop onto my hand to be fed.

It didn’t take too long before they would group on my back fence, waiting for scrap’s thrown down from the balcony.

From here it wasn’t all that hard to getting them to take food from the rail on a swoop & grab basis.

I started off placing their food 1.5 mitres from where I was leaning. Over the next few weeks, I shortened the distance until they would fly down and grab food sitting next to me (30cm).

Next, I got them used to grabbing food with my hand resting next to the meat.

This allowed me to remove the food as they were swooping down. They soon learned they had to land to be fed.

Kookaburra Feeding - Brave Baby Burra   Kookaburra Feeding - Brave Baby Burra

Once they accept that, start to hold the food in your fingers & take the food to them.

 

When you get them comfortable with that, it’s only a short hop, skip & jump till you’re hand feeding.

Kookaburra Feeding - Feeding Boss#2

 

 

 

Kookaburra Games - Who’s holding your beak?

Beak Holding

I think this was our 1^st Kookaburra games. I could approach them with my empty hand out-stretched, and they would sit there expectantly. I was then able to reach out & hold the end of their beak.

Not knowing how they would react, I was surprised to say the least, that they did nothing.

They just sat there.

They didn’t try to pull away. They didn’t fly away when I let go. They just sat there giving me, at what I can best describe as, a bewildered look. They would look at my fingers, then at me, almost saying – “what was that?”

I’m guessing they have never had an experience like that. They don’t see it as harm or a threat. They just don’t know what to make of it.

Allowing me to hold their beaks, gave me the idea to colour code them for identification (This I will cover  in my post “Colour Me Up”).

 

 Check out the vid.

Kookaburra games - Who's holding your beak?

When it’s not just Jousting

 

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.

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.

 

surprise, surprise
 

Check out the vid of Bully Baby doing his thing.

Kookaburra - Bully Baby - The Problem Child