For some time now, I have been surrounded by the sound and antics of baby birds. The first ones on the scene were the magpies. Several months ago, the father magpie started swooping, but now his duties consist mostly of feeding his two babies, taking it in turns with mother. The babies are now as tall as their parents, and expert fliers in their own rights. They are starting to learn to warble like their parents, although at times it sounds like boys when their voices break, and the more advanced of the two is starting to feed himself, although as soon as a parent appears he reverts to begging as though he’s never had a feed in his life. They are a treat to watch, as they discover the joys of sunbathing, or attempt to pull a grub out of the ground, only to discover it’s really a stick, or running after dad as he finds a tasty morsel. They are learning to trust some of the neighbours, who will occasionally toss them something to eat. This is actually bribery so we don’t get divebombed next year….
Speaking of divebombing, dad still takes time out to go screaming after young kids on pushbikes on their way to and from school. You can just about set your watch by him….
For a few days I had a different sort of baby to look after. The school got in touch with me, one of their pupils arrived at school with a baby bird they had found on the road, so of course they rang me. We think it’s a wattle bird, they said, and having such fond memories of the pair I raised last year I cheerfully said of course I’ll take him. However, when I got to the school, and was directed to the appropriate classroom, where I was presented with a box. All the children insisted I should identify the bird before I left, so I removed the lid carefully and it was definitely NOT a wattlebird. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what it was, but I felt pretty sure it was a baby black faced cuckoo shrike. I’d seen one before, but never taken care of one, so I thought, right another adventure! The kids all forgot the name, it’s a bit of a mouthful, but I think they’ll remember what he looked like. He was a mottley grey colour, with a dark coloured mask across his eyes. When he opened his beak, inside was a bright orange, and he made a delightful “trill” inbetween meals, just as though he was talking to himself.
The first couple of days, I had to force feed him. I think he was suffering from shock, as he was found in the middle of the road, without his mother, and I discovered from checking my bird information that his natural diet would have been fruit and insects, so I gave him chopped up meat, soaked dog biscuits and chopped up pieces of fruit. Once he got over his shock, he ate willingly, and ate everything he was given. In the time honoured tradition of baby birds, anytime anyone opened his box, it was meal time. One meal Nolan came and looked and the bird asked him for food as well. Nolan pulled his nose back hurriedly, as the bird got a bit close for comfort. Also, once he got over his shock, he wanted to start flying, and a couple of times he managed to escape his box when I opened it for feeding, and sat on my head. This hastened my arranging for him to go somewhere with an aviary. The only cage I could find for him was tiny….he wouldn’t have fit through the door! So he has left me to try his wings, and eventually feed himself, and learn about being a wild bird again.
Just a few days ago another lot of babies arrived. Galah babies. These like the magpie babies are as big as their parents, and are attempting to feed themselves on the grass seeds around about, but they still depend on their parents for their main food. They sit up in the gum trees in the park next door, or on someone’s tv antenna, and the babies make this terrible begging noise that sounds like a donkey braying. Then when they actually get fed it you can hear them gobble it down. Multiply that by about 12 babies, and you can imagine it gets very noisy at meal times.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching the magpie babies wandering round the back yard in the company of their mother, trying to eat my chives and thyme, and being fed grubs and morsels from time to time, when down flew a baby galah. They are basically pink and grey like their parents, but their chests are mottled, and the colours aren’t as distinct. This particular fellow also had some feathers missing, as though someone had grabbed hold of him and removed some, but he thought he was pretty good. He waddled straight over and started eating some of the grass seeds that were growing, taking little leaps and bounds as he went, and squawking as well. This was all a bit much for one of the young magpies who ran at him. This didn’t faze our young galah at all, he just jumped back at the magpie. The magpie wasn’t backing down at all either, so we had a stale mate, with them both glaring at each other till hunger (or boredom) got the better of them, and they went back to looking for food. In the meantime, mother magpie and the other young one walked past (galahs waddle, but magpies stride like very small tyrannosaurus rexes). The young galah again went into what it considered its scariest poses but mum and junior just looked down their beaks with disdain and just kept on going. So the magpie family and the galah went in opposite directions. Then another young galah turned up. This one didn’t look as scruffy as the first one, and they were quite trusting, they let me get quite close to take a photo or two, but after a while the main flock flew over with many squawks and rolls (galahs never fly in a straight line when there’s the possibility of putting on a flying display), and the youngsters left the magpies, and me, and went back to their parents and friends.
So peace was sorta restored….at least I only have to cope with the two magpie youngsters behaving badly now….
Mamaroo's Diary 