Coming and going, going, gone (still)

Coming and going: Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.

Going: Pheasant Coucal on way across scorched trunk.

Gone (still): Tawny Frogmouth goes ... still.

You're telling birds to live in holes like this?

Think it's tough finding a home these days? Well picture a world where millions of prime sites are destroyed daily. So eight visiting Sulphur-crested Cockatoos get excited by burned-out trunk a self-respecting bird wouldn't have pooped in years ago.

Didn't take long for the raucous inspectors to recognise an unlivable hole and move on.

At almost same time five Red-tailed Black cockatoos show interest in Moreton Bay Ash just 40 metres away. A few tentative  nibbles at the bone-hard wood ends any hopes of enlarging holes. The five fly to top of another ash to crunch on nutritious nuts.

Close by, male Black-necked Stork, having found right site, makes way, sneakily, to northeast with another delivery of grass to line nest (usually wide platform).

Just up the road, Australian Raven selects somewhat scratchier lining for typical large messy bowl of twigs, near top of another big ash.

Making itself at home - but almost certainly not looking to nest - Northern Fantail goes quietly about its business.But not quietly enough. Gentle 'chuff chuff' gives it away. Not a common visitor to the Common, I'm told.

Cracking start to the day for young and old

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos can't get enough Casuarina (she-oak) nuts some mornings, cracking into them and digging out the tasty seed within. Other days they fly on by, usually from south to north. But the more common fare is Sea Almonds. Male bird above quitting Casuarina (twiggy background) and preparing for landing amid the almonds.

Female carries green almond away. the birds seldom wait for the fruit to turn a ripe purple. And often chomp and tear away the flesh from one end only before moving on to another. The reward for persisting through to cracking the almond pod (stone) open is a single small seed. I guessthe birds must get some sustenance from the green fruit fibres.

Easier to see where the sustenance comes from for this young Pacific Baza, getting excited by the approach of food-bearing parent. Another of the seeming never-ending cicada supply. So many still in trees you'd think the youngster, one of a pair being fed by both parents yesterday near the Town Common gate, would be able to grab some for itself.

But no, that's what the oldies are for. Hop to it, Ma or Pa!

Meanwhile, as their offspring may be eating something meaty courtesy of deceived parents, Eastern Koel pair tuck into figs, a leisurely life free from the burden of babycare. Koels are, like most cuckoos, lucky: they take the kids back around the equivalent of human teen time. No dramas. Off they go. Happy as. Or, at least, so it seems. Can't see that ever ending happily among us. Though, some parents ... and some teens ... maybe???
 

Corella, Cockatoo brighten the roadside

Helping keep a roadside trim this week, Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea) - one of six on the ground -  tucks into its morning greens.

And further along the road, Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) - one of eight - makes a meal of old coastal (Indian) almond.

Fig-parrots take the eye

Fruitless hunt for Victoria's Riflebirds along the Wallaman Falls road at least bore some fruit with uncommon sightings of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma race macleayana).

Three of the tiny frugivores feasted for a few minutes on spindly, sparsely fruiting fig trees before streaking off with their squeaky 'zeet zeets'. Ten years of Wallaman drives and the first time up close to the species.

From small fruit-eaters to big: Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii). Two flew over the Wallaman road yesterday, but more usual sightings come near the coast. The big birds love ripping into big green almonds, leaving part-eaten fruit and small branches and leaves littering the ground.

And two tidier eaters, one each just for Jarvi and Moss: Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus).