Chicks are almost in juvenile plumage…just a few days now and they will have shed most of their white fluff. They have spending much of their time flapping around the box until they collapsed in slumped huddle.
I have to feel a bit sorry about the rosella population, which is getting a bit hammered, particularly by Diamond. Fortunately, eastern rosellas, her favoured prey, are very common in this university farm and around and are considered indicators of degraded woodland, which is a good description of the remnant woodland around here. Crimson rosellas are occasionally taken, too, but are found less often in the really open country.
Here Xavier brings in an eastern rosella, then drops in when Diamond arrives, and then she leaves with the prey (bringing it back after a few minutes munchies out of reach of the chicks) and is chased by X, with quite a dramatic double exit. This happened yesterday afternoon.
VIDEO 20171103 black lump nest X and Di with chicks LEDGE
VIDEO 20171103 black lump nest X and Di with chicks 
This morning, a crimon rosella (suspected) is brought in by Diamond, but Bali misses out after Marragaay grabs the prize.
VIDEO 20171104 suspect CR family interaction LEDGE
Diamond comes back later and gives him a consolation prize.
I have a full day Central West Environment meeting tomorrow in Lithgow, so will leave you in peace and hope that the webcams hold up. But just on more piccie for you of Xavier ready to make his exit:
Nice to see the youngsters sharing brekky this morning!
Ha ha ha, spoke too soon – I looked again and there was a tug of war going on for the last stringy bit.
Think Daddy sent them both to the naughty corners.
https://screenshots.firefox.com/XVbcLReI33lagfXX/www.csu.edu.au
Haha, that’s exactly what it looks like! That’s gold. Good to see you Deborah – wondered where you’d got to. Isn’t it terrible when life gets in the way of watching our favourite “reality tv”.
I was surprised earlier when the youngsters seemed to be sharing the prey quite happily. Perhaps I’ve always been watching at the wrong times, but I can’t recall ever seeing them tucking into a piece of food together so companionably. Thinking back over the last couple of seasons, I can only remember lots of mantling and “every chick for him/herself”.
Hi Sue,
I’ve jumped on here or there .. but these coming two weeks are always the busiest for me in the year (and the previous 3 weeks). I applied for a job, went for interview and now preparing for a move next year. I’ll be right near the Bird Discovery Centre at near Olympic Park in Sydney .. I’m even considering moving house to be near there (don’t tell husband it’s because of the birds) .. Look who was in my tree yesterday and I can hear them now .. trying to frighten my poor little currawong chicks (3 of them). https://screenshots.firefox.com/R5DUX2SwKpsyqyoF/null
https://screenshots.firefox.com/azfvQSjpb5Q253T6/null
Oh wow – great pic! They’re a bit of a rarity here, (only a couple of “heard-but-not-seen” instances over the last 2 years) although we get the other cuckoos in large numbers. A plague of currawongs over winter appears to have reduced our fairy wren population a bit, so the cuckoos may be getting a bit desperate, too! Fascinating how bird populations ebb and flow. I hope the rosella population in Orange can cope with Diamond’s gourmet habits!
You wouldn’t be the first person to move house ‘for the birds’! It was one of the things that brought me here 🙂
Hi Deborah and Sue, I’ve been absent because I got myself overloaded here, hoping to resume the service soon!
I followed a kookaburra nestbox a couple of years ago, it was a dreadful stream from someone’s back garden (thru no fault of there’s) but absolutely fabulous, what an experience.
Our perries are unrecognisable today, compared to Cilla’s snaps above – they seem to have developed a month’s worth in a couple of days!
Well what a coincidence! I just had a notification from Ustream that the kookaburra cam is broadcasting again – but it’s off-air at the mo. Very excited.
Did I say I was overloaded already? 😀
Not long now, scylla, and we’ll be wondering what to do with ourselves until next breeding season… these youngsters are so entertaining. On Sunday I had a lovely time watching them apparently chasing each other around the box, flapping away as though they were having a great game of it.
Not having any luck at all with the cams this morning – nothing but black screen at my place 🙁
Yay, cams are ok again – Bali is looking very grown up and rebellious today, with a mohawk of fluff on his head! Marragaay relatively fluffy by comparison…
I’ve just checked the cams from home and they were fine. I’ve never actually experienced their outages, but admittedly don’t look as often as you guys do.
Bali was peering over the ledge and flapping tentatively – much too close for my liking!
I have a bit of time today, so should be able to do some catch-up and start a new thread.
I was offline for a while and now cannot believe how much they have grown. I saw a lovely scene where the two siblings were looking out of the ledge ready to take on the world!
Scylla and Cilla, thanks for the updates that make it easier to catch up. My stream used to freeze a lot but I never knew when it was the actual stream freezing and when it was my slow internet that was messing it up.
This year I haven’t been following the reality show as much as before, but it seems that there is a bit more interaction between the two than there was when there were three in previous years. At the moment (~19.45 their time) there appears to be a bit of grooming/fluff removal. Very cute!
Just confirming Sue’s report that the cams were black for a long time today/yesterday (I get so muddled with the time zones!). For example, I had a 50-minute blackage up to 07:16hr. Not too bad after that, albeit lots of freezes.
I’m in a state of abject terror, watching wingercising on the ledge… right on the blooming ledge !!! I think it’s Bali at the moment.