The Storm Birds are back

After a small hiatus (6 months, so maybe not so small), I’m back to my blog. A bit has happened since then, so expect a few blogs over the next few weeks.

This post is dedicated to the Eastern Koels. They are one of my favourite birds, not only because of their looks, and they really are stunning, but it’s what they are & what they do.

Storm as last years juvenile

I just love his colours.

Before we get going, I’ll explain the “Storm Bird” thing. Koels could be conservatively called a bloody noisy bird. Early morning, early evening, mid morning, mid arvo, in fact any time of the day, you will hear these guys. If you have Koels, you may not know them by sight, but you will by call. It’s rumoured they take their raucous call up a notch with the approach of our summer storms. I think that’s more myth than fact. If they raised the level of their calls I’m sure their head would explode. But hey, I’m no scientist.

Any LOUDER and my head will explode.

They are Cuckoos, and like most Cuckoos are “Brood Parasites”. This is a term you may not be familiar with (I had to google it). It means they lay an egg in another birds nest for them to raise as their own. And typically these guys choose Wattlebirds, Magpie-Larks (Pee Wee’s) & Friarbirds as “Foster Parents”. I have both Red Wattlebirds & Pee Wee’s frequent the Tapas Bar.

The "Foster Parents"

That's Wilma giving Red an earful.

They fly down late September – early October from New Guinea, spend the summer here & fly home late March – early April. Getting photos of these guys is tough. Adult Koels spend most of their time high up in the tree tops, but I’ve been lucky and a couple of times they have flown down to get a drink from the Tranquillity Pool and checkout the food on offer at the Tapas Bar. The kids however are a lot easier to film as their Foster Parents feed a lot closer to the ground, and in my case choose the Tapas Bar to fill up. But more on that in a minute.
Not a lot is known about these birds.  We know they fly down, do their thing, then fly back.  Now for some really interesting stuff. The baby Koels are huge. 2, 3 or 4 times bigger than their foster parents. How’s it the foster parents don’t twig that this giant isn’t theirs? How is it that foster dad doesn’t quiz foster mum as to whose been fluffing her feathers.

Well I can answer the first question, but not the last. The baby Koel needs to hatch first & eject the other eggs from the nest. Now there is nothing for the parents to compare to & they imprint with this baby Koel. And he is persistent. Begging, begging, begging. From first light to last. He can also beg like a bunch of chicks so the poor (somewhat stupid) foster parents think they are feeding a brood of chicks and work harder.

So that’s a bit of a Bio on Eastern Koels. 
Here is my experience with them……………….
Last year a pair of Koels selected a pair of Red Wattlebirds that are regulars in my backyard, named Red & Little John (I didn’t know Little John was a female until I saw Red mating with her on the side of the Tranquillity Pool).

Red & Little John

It was about now I realised Little John was a she.

At least I hope so.

Well they were great foster parents. They fed this kid from dawn to dusk. Red & Little John would visit the Tapas Bar, grab a beak full of food and fly off to feed their very demanding chick. Eventually the chick made it to the Tapas Bar to self-feed. Even though he was self-feeding he didn’t stop begging. Just had to keep the pressure up to the parents. While all this is going his real Mum & Dad are never far away. Always within eyesight & calling.

As everyone has a name in the Tapas Bar story. I named mum & dad Kath & Kym with bub called Storm.

This is Kym (Dad).

Boy does he make a striking figure.

Here is Mum (Kath)

She's also a good looking piece of eye candy.

This is Little John feeding Storm.

A mothers love.

She'd have to be praying he doesn't sneeze

Red's a little smarter.

Easier to retract your head if you can pull back from a height

should Storm sneeze or hiccup.

They stayed thru February, mum & dad flew home in March. A little while later I never saw Storm again.

Well that is until this year. I think he has returned along with his parents Kath & Kym. Now this is going to sound freaky. I think they have returned to exact same backyard he was raised in. Now for something freakier, I think Storm has selected the same foster parents to raise his kid. How’s that for being out there.

Red & his new missus Wilma are raising a baby Koel. I guess Red did ask the question “who was fluffing Little Johns feathers” because she has been replace by Wilma.

I think its Storm, as this bird is in the transition stage between juvenile & adult colours. I think Kath & Kym have found another pair of Wattlebirds to raise this year’s chick, as there is another chick being raised 100 meters further down my reserve and I have 2 pairs of Koels on the reserve this year.

Storm

No Longer a juvenile

Yet not quite his adult colours.   A kid in transition.

I'll know more next year if I get 3 pairs of Koels.

But that’s next year. Let’s talk about this year. Now we’re up to Hoover. Oh yeah, that’s what I called this year’s baby Koel. Boy can he eat. He goes thru a full Mango a day as well as other stuff. Raising this guy is costing me a fortune. That’s not quite the truth. I get a lot of the Tapas Bar supplies for free from a local supermarket. But I DO SPEND A LOT OF TIME CHOPPING J
One morning, with too much time on my hand, I counted how many times Hoover begged in a minute. 50 times. That’s 30,000 times a day. If I was his foster parent, well……….let’s just say it’s lucky I never had kids. Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet, THIRTY THOUSAND TIMES.

I had to laugh when I saw this.

Red has his head stuck in that banana.

He nearly fell of the Tapas Bar in an effort to shake off his new hat.

Thunder (Storms missus) like here name, won’t take a backward step from trouble. Even when that trouble is Cedrick the Lorikeet. He’s the bully at the Tapas Bar. He has everyone bluffed. EXCEPT Thunder. She’s from New Guinea. She doesn’t know his rep. What’s more…..she couldn't give a flying Fuc….Water is water & food is food. Both essential to her life & that of her bub. Will she take shit from a Lorrie? Not for 1 second...

Say G'day to Thunder

Storms very nice looking but fiery mate.

Here sits Thunder, warming herself in the early morning sun

Turns out she's a bit partial to boiled rice.

All's good at the Tapas Bar

That is until Cedrick arrived

Straight up he gave Thunder her marching orders.

Unlike the other birds that visit, this didn't intimidate Thunder.

In fact it drove her to rage.

Cedrick was totally unprepared for her reaction.

She charged directly at him.

Who was this devil bird. Thunder by name - Thunder by nature.

I only have a few photos of Storm & Thunder as they were driven away whenever they attempted to land. You've just seen that Thunder won’t take shit from Cedrick, The baddest bird in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog.

Who could be badder than Cedrick? Here is some irony for you………………………………………

Red & Wilma - the “Foster Parents” of their offspring. They are fiercely protective of the food on offer. When you have a giant to feed, you need all the food you can get. And boy can Hoover stack it away.

It was as if Storm & Thunder understood this and acquiesced. It seemed all 4 players in this game knew the importance of the food I put up. The success of Red & Wilma feeding Storms bub was paramount in Hoover’s survival. He needed to be strong enough in a month or so for the epic 2,700 kilometre flight home.

It wasn't just the Koels that the Wattlebirds lit into. Another recipient of their ire was Kit the Green Catbird. Most times he would just cop the abuse & leave, but sometimes it was all too much. Sometimes he had to do what every self respecting Catbird  needed to do. Put these Wattlebirds back in their spot. Bring them down a peg or two.

Wilma leaving Kit no doubt as to her intention.

Leave or lose an eye.

Kit giving Red a quick serve.

there comes a time when you must say "Enough is Enough"

Sometimes you might need to repeat yourself.

After weeks of flying the food up to where Hoover was roosting, it was a huge relief when he decided to fly down to the Tapas Bar to make it easier for Red & Wilma to feed him.



And a huge relief for me. Now I had something for Headley to shoot.

Something else I was lucky to photo. Wattlebirds don’t normally grab the chunks of meat meant for my Kookaburras. It’s just not their thing. However, it was just what Hoover must have needed. Now how the hell did they know that?

Red with a juicy piece of steak for Hoover.

Who said he was a vegetarian???

This next lot of photos made me smile. Hoover must think he’s of royal blood and Mum & Dad are there to pander to his needs. He’s having a grand old time sitting in the Tranquillity Pool while mum funnels food down that cavernous gob. Next he’ll be calling for the “Royal Bum Wipers”.

I can understand why Storm has returned to my backyard to raise his kid.

How many places out there treat birds like this.

His own private Spa.

And a smorgasbord of grapes, mango, peach & banana

garnished with fresh local flowers & berries.

The downside to Headley my camera is that he’s fixed. Not only that his eyesight is pretty piss poor. Unless his subject is within 30cm he’s next to useless. So how do I get Hoover in front of Headley? Food & lots of it. Sooner or later he will perch himself in just the right spot for me to get “That Photo”. The one that captures the drama of being a Wattlebird feeding a giant.

C'mon girls, if this was your kid, would you stick your head down there?

The one thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that young birds are clumsy. Bloody clumsy. In these next 2 photos Hoover is stepping from the Tranquillity Pool to the blue bar. A step of a couple of inches. He completely missed the bar and unceremoniously falls off the Tranquillity Pool.  Even when he’s a klutz, he’s a good looking klutz.

10 days, maybe 2 weeks since he joined Red & Wilma on the Tapas Bar, he started to self-feed. If I thought I was going thru a bit of food, it was nothing to what I was soon to go through. I was refilling the Tapas Bar 2 & 3 times a day. This kid had an appetite of a whole football team.

I put up some berries I thought the Bowerbirds might like. They never got to see them.

My Kookaburras love potato salad (Yeah, I hear you. Kookaburras right? What can I say. They like what they like). I had ½ a tub I’d been saving for them. Like the berries, Hoover ‘Hoovered up the lot’

His self-feeding was a little bitter sweet in fact, for it started the countdown to his departure. I will need to chop more food, he will eat more food, and then without a so much as a 'by your leave' he will go. I expect the last thing I will hear is…………

“So Long and Thanks for all the Fish”

It's Summer - the Storm Birds are here.

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.

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.

Kath

Bottoms up

She turned up one more time in the late arvo.

Has Kath bitten off more than she can chew?

Wait...wait...

Buurrp

No I'm good to go

I


It's mid-February now, the last photo of Kath was a week ago. The first photo of Kym was the end of November.

I think I’ve got Kath & Kym for another month & by the end of March, see the last of Storm.

What I journey I’ve been on.

Who will I see next summer?