Pied Currawong nesting

8 posts / 0 new
Last post
noizymina
noizymina's picture
Pied Currawong nesting

There is a currawong nest in the backyard for the 2nd year running. Last year three chicks made it to the fledgling stage.

This year the new nest is harder to monitor. Still unsure as to how many chicks still in it.

Before continuing let me tell you about the "food preparation tree". The currawong hoards meat in this ironbark about 15 metres away from the nest in another ironbark. It wedges meat, the likes of chicken wings and rodent remains, in the branches. When it needs food, it tears at the wedged meat with its beak. (Look no hands or feet!) I regularly find meat scraps in the yard, especially below this tree.

This year I have found two dead chicks below this tree. One probably less than two weeks old. The other this morning, well fed and very downy. Neither chick was developed enough to have fluttered the distance from the nest. The question is; how did they get there?

bushanwater
bushanwater's picture

Are they currawong chicks? They could be chicks of other birds that fell from the "pantry" tree.

See Yez
Trev

noizymina
noizymina's picture

Hard to tell with the first one, but the second one was definitely a currawong chick.

DenisWilson
DenisWilson's picture

The practice you describe is normally associated with Butcherbirds.
Over-sized beak for the size of the bird (smaller than a Magpie), and prominent hook on the tip.
Cheers
Denis

Tassie

My first thought was a Channel billed cuckoo chick throwing them out.
Is there still activity at the nest??

noizymina
noizymina's picture

Clear siting of two chicks in the nest. The flapping wings displayed by one, suggests its close to venturing out of the nest.

Sorry Denis, not clear about the point your making. Neither the local butcherbirds or magpies venture into the property. Its currawong territory and whilst they tolerate a variety of other birds inside the territory, they don't tolerate any other black and whites.

Andy
Andy's picture

Hi Noizyminor,

I think Denis might have been saying that the food-hoarding practice sounds like the behaviour of a Butcherbird, ie maybe your currawongs are actually butcherbirds; I don't think he was offering a suggestion regarding the culprit.

Tassie, that would be really interesting. I've never really wondered how powerfully cuckoos kick the other baby birds out. (I think I remember reading that Channel-billed Cuckoos chicks don't kick the other birds out; the CBCs are just bigger and grow faster, and thus get all the food.)

Noizyminor, I would be interested to hear any updates.

Thanks,
Andy.

noizymina
noizymina's picture

Andy,

apologies for the delay. Two chicks made it out of the nest. One never made it past 24 hours, the other was gone in 36 hours. Like one of three chicks last year, they had a fatal attraction to the neighbour's yard. Her cats made short work of them.

Pied currawongs, pied butcherbirds and magpies are all common to the area, so differentiating all three is easy. The common koel is a regular seasonal visitor too.

In summary - two dead chicks found by the "pantry", one definitely a currawong. Two live chicks made it out of nest, both dead within 48 hours.

thanks everybody for your input

 and   @birdsinbackyards
                 Subscribe to me on YouTube