Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[Teila]

oh, did they die? That's awful, he's a meanie.

What about his parents, they suck at the job. Should take lessons from some chickens.

Yep, from what I understand, the other babies are goners and yep, while he is kind of a meanie, he is cute

It is probably a good thing that Koel's do not have access to chicken nests

 

[Anniebee]

Can anyone help with a baby bird identification?

I believe the bird which is feeding it is a Magpie Lark? However, I do not believe this is it's baby? The larger, browner bird is definitely a youngster because it is constantly asking for food and the black and white one is feeding it. However, the baby is so much bigger than the one sticking with it?





I will try and get a clearer picture of the baby ............

Edited to Add:





I was right, it is not the parent .. the baby is a Koel "The true Koels, Eudynamys, are a genus of Cuckoos from Asia, Australia and the Pacific. They are large sexually dimorphic cuckoos which eat fruits and insects and have loud distinctive calls".

Well, there ya go .. I did not know we had Cuckoos

That poor little Magpie Lark trying to keep that huge baby fed

PS. The girls are not impressed by his constant demands for food and keep raising the alarm. Yesterday he was just sitting in the middle of the lawn and they were freaking out! lol

Teila - have seen from further posts here .... yes the cuckoo ( or cuckoo shrike which has a black face - and this one looks like a black face ) .... is a bit of a meanie, but doesn't know he/she is of course.

What Mum mud lark ( as they are called in Victoria ) .... is feeding, would be about the same as for her own fledglings if she'd kept any. Sad how nature is at times, but that's the way of it. Have only seen one cuckoo here, I don't think our white-back magpies tolerate the cuckoo 'mum', laying things in their nests. !! I have seen them chase and try to attack a largish ( unidentified ) brown bird. Mind you, the juveniles of our magpies here, end up being quite a bit larger than Mum or Dad .... and they shriek their demands. Poor Mum / Dad doing the feeding, drop off in weight considerably when feeding their huge offspring. But it all evens out eventually.

...........

While here Teila - you are both doing a splendid job of the new coop(s) for your very lucky chickens. Looking good - and hope to see pics of the finished product.

Good onya ...

 

[User395221]

We had one of our crow visitors today... My dog hates them, she barks and goes off. She was jumping up and barking at this one, but decided to just sit there and stare at it while I went for the camera. (that's the gatepost to the little chooks' yard where he'd been scavenging)

 

[Fizzybelle]

Yep, from what I understand, the other babies are goners and yep, while he is kind of a meanie, he is cute

It is probably a good thing that Koel's do not have access to chicken nests

Yes, if they ever discover just how broody some hens can be, we'll be overun by the things. Didn't know we had species of cuckoo's here, that's not a good thing for native birds.

I get out my camera, and who runs over but Annabelle. Everywhere I aim the thing, is where she needs to be, right then and there. So here's a nice pic of her, looks like she'd just had a drink though, her neck looks wet. Once I took it, she moved on. Master of mischief that girl.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Babies !

 

[Fizzybelle]

BEAUTIFUL babies there Fancychooklady!

 

[satay]

Babies !

 

[User395221]

Everywhere I aim the thing, is where she needs to be, right then and there.

hahaha, mine are all like that, except they want food, not their photo taken. I'll end up in the news one day, they'll find me dead in the backyard and figure out that the chooks have tripped me over... I'll end up with a Darwin award.

 

[Fizzybelle]

hahaha, mine are all like that, except they want food, not their photo taken. I'll end up in the news one day, they'll find me dead in the backyard and figure out that the chooks have tripped me over... I'll end up with a Darwin award.

Oh dear god chooks are worse than cats at getting under foot and tripping you up! With my girls I think food plays a part in their motivation for following me most of the time, but they are also very curious about the things I do, and well, actually, Annabelle and my alpha hen Ada, are just a pair of nosy old women really. This morning Mum was telling me how there was a truck over the road making a lot of noise, so she stepped onto the balcony to see what was going on. She looks down and sees the two of them standing right up next to the gate (they don't do that normally), clucking to each other whilst looking at the truck, probably wondering why it was disturbing the peace so early when that's clearly their job, or something like that.

 

[User395221]

probably wondering why it was disturbing the peace

I had an "incident" today. One of the girls was making a HUGE racket. Bwarkwarkwarkwark type stuff. There were a couple of crows out there (not near the chooks). I don't know why she was so upset about it. She was really "going off" I was worried she was getting murdered or something.