A pair of Blue Face Honeyeaters had the misfortune of being foster parents to an Eastern Koel.
The koel, which is a type of cuckoo, was more than twice the size of the honeyeaters and they were on the go from daylight till dark bringing it a constant supply of insects while it sat and squawked for more.
Koels are parasitic and the female lays its single egg in the nest of another bird species. The egg hatches in a comparatively short time and the koel chick which is much larger than its hosts chicks, is able to dispose of the other chicks either by evicting them from the nest or simply by dominating the food supply and starving them.
While koels eat fruit and berries, the chick has to exist on whatever food the foster parents bring it. You can see the insect of some sort in the honeyeater's beak.
Fab pic Terry - instant fav. Poor Honeyeaters!! They must be exhausted. We have 5 Kookas here including 2 babies, who are constantly demanding food from the adults, who are now smaller than them!
Terry you forgot to mention that the Eastern Koel parents will come and claim their chick when it is old enough to leave the nest...Our crows had the misfortune to raise to chicks they are a lot of work nevertheless they are a beautiful bird. Super find and capture Fav.
@irene111 Well they haven't been back for this one Irene and it now seems as if the blue faces have given up trying to feed it as I have seen it a few times today on its own.
December 29th, 2015
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Terry you forgot to mention that the Eastern Koel parents will come and claim their chick when it is old enough to leave the nest...Our crows had the misfortune to raise to chicks they are a lot of work nevertheless they are a beautiful bird. Super find and capture Fav.