We are nearing the end of the breeding season and poor old Half Tail looks like she is at the end of her tether. Half Tail obviously because she has lost half of her tail feathers.
She, along with the other 8 or so Kookaburras that frequent our kitchen window have been hard at it for months now. We know the babies have fledged and many have left the nest because we see the parents feeding them in the distance but at the time this shot was taken a few days ago, none had come down to us.
The red on her chest is not blood but nail polish. What????
We try to limit the amount of food we give them to 2 bits of meat and then we push them on their way. The problem was of course that it was very hard to recognise them all and to keep track of who had had what. Undoubtedly, some were getting half a dozen bits and others were sent away with nothing so Rhoda started painting their chests with different coloured nail polish. Worked well for a while.
The rest of her bedraggled appearance is because it was raining this day and the dirt on her belly is probably because she has her nest in an old termite nest in a tree - one of the Kookaburras favourite nesting places.
They all have such individual characters don't they. Good way of identifying them though.
We only have three resident visitors. One we call Onewing because she has a bit of a floppy wing, she can fly okay but her wing is quite noticeable, she also has one bent toe too. Her partner we call Squawk because he always identifies himself by squawking when he arrives in our garden and they have a teenage son now who also squawks louder than his Dad. Hasn't learned any manners either yet and still pinches the meat off his parents, even out of their beaks sometimes.
I was wondering why she would be bleeding! Did you know the young stay an extra year and help raise the next generation with mum and dad? they are fascinating birds. she is lovely 😊
@koalagardens No I didn't but that certainly explains why we are having so much difficulty trying to work out the parent chick relationships that we are seeing. Thanks for that.
We only have three resident visitors. One we call Onewing because she has a bit of a floppy wing, she can fly okay but her wing is quite noticeable, she also has one bent toe too. Her partner we call Squawk because he always identifies himself by squawking when he arrives in our garden and they have a teenage son now who also squawks louder than his Dad. Hasn't learned any manners either yet and still pinches the meat off his parents, even out of their beaks sometimes.