I commenced a thread around this time in 2016 regarding the annual migration of Eastern Koels (sorry, haven’t worked out how to link yet) from Asia to Australia, including a few shots of an adult male and female that holidayed in my neighbourhood. We have some in the area again this year, although I have not actually seen them.
Koels are a type of cuckoo, with an interesting approach to rearing their young. They locate an inhabited nest and the female adds an extra egg to the clutch. They then disappear to enjoy the Australian summer (possibly working on their tan on Bondi Beach with the other backpackers) while the unsuspecting surrogates look after the nest. When hatched, the parasite evicts all the other eggs and hatchlings and the foster parents find themselves spending the next few months tirelessly gathering food for the enormous chick with the insatiable appetite. Once fully fledged, mum and dad reappear and the chick follows them home to the subcontinent.
So, yesterday I followed the incessant chirping of a demanding infant to a tree in the garden and found this juvenile deep in the foliage, being fed almost continuously by a pair of host red wattle birds about half the size of the chick.
Olympus OM-D E-M10, Lumix G Vario 100-300 II f4-f5.6 OIS (FL 234mm, f5.2, 1/250, ISO 400)
I don’t rate myself that highly on bird shots and don’t have the best gear for it but I would have liked (but did not get) a decent shot of the feeding. I found focussing difficult with all the twigs and leaves competing for the AF point, and not near fast enough shutter speed to overcome the excited activity. Tips for next time greatly appreciated.
Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.