Early on 10 January 2013 a juvenile Pallid Cuckoo appeared in our garden making a plaintive and somewhat annoying whistling squeak. This continued on and off all day. Eventually about 4pm I saw a White-eared Honeyeater fly up to the cuckoo and feed it twice. I was not quick enough to capture an image of the feeding at this point but here is the cuckoo.
A nearby female Rufous Whistler also appeared to react to the calls of the cuckoo, but didn't go to the extent of handing over some food. According to HANZAB this attraction of innocent bystanders is not unusual.
A little later the whingeing was still going on and this time I was able to capture a badly out-of-focus record shot of the honeyeater and cuckoo just after food had been transferred.
This does show the great difference in size between the host and the cuckoo!
On 11 January the situation was ongoing. The cuckoo now has 2 White-eared Honeyeaters dancing attendance on it. I couldn't catch a photo of feeding but here is a front-on shot.
This activity greatly displeased a Pied Currawong which was feeding its own young nearby. It chased the cuckoo quite vigorously.
Nice to see how the cycle gets completed.
ReplyDeleteDenis