it's been a really interesting month or so, and kind of a privilege. We have co-parented a chick. We've named it Panda.
There were four in the nest. Sadly the branch died off and drooped over causing 3 of the 4 babies to fall and hit the ground over a couple of days (or the parents tossed them out to try and save the strongest?). We then decided to put the outdoor furniture pillows under the palm tree to try and catch the last one.
Happy to say the last one landed on pillows a couple of days later (video of it being fed in basket). We fed it ourselves for bit, with it sitting in a plant pot stand out in the yard. The parents investigated it but didn't appear to feed it. we then decided to cut down the dead frond/nest and re attach it to the palm with surfboard straps, lower down so I could feed it if the parents didn't. Fortunately the parents started feeding it again for another 5 days.
More recently we had quite a bad storm and we took the chick from the nest and kept it inside overnight. We were lucky as we had hail and honking winds which bent the nest around the tree.
The chick then spent the days walking in the yard or sleeping on our bbq table, and at night we'd bring it inside to sleep in our bathroom, on a perch. We'd feed it, the parents fed it, our neighbours must be feeding the parents too because they turn up with mince in their beaks to give to the chick.
It can now fly and has left the yard for a couple of days. (video of it on the roof)
It returned today with the parents. It's just starting to warble (carolling?)
The babies were very quiet, and you wouldn't even know they were there until covered in fluff and had a few feathers, then they just made a very faint squeak.
mum makes the same feed-me sound as the chicks. my guess is it tells dad she needs to be fed too.
Once the chick leaves the nest, almost overnight the chicks feed-me voice turns into a full on squawk. I couldn't imagine the noise having 4 chicks to feed
Just about any food given to the parents goes into the chicks mouth. They don't appear to be very fussy.
The nest bowl is very small in diameter and shallow in depth. It's hard to believe you'd fit 4 magpie chicks in it. It does have a wide ledge they can sit on.
When building the nest, they took the padding from the inside of our dogs bed that was torn open, to line the nest. They took a piece of straight wire I hung on a screw for passion-fruit to grow up. One day I noticed it had gone. They managed to bend it into nearly 3 loops and used it for the nest!?
We are about to go through it all again, because the parents have just built a new nest in our other palm tree, on exactly the same frond and direction (east facing). Fortunately this time it's not over the pool and there are at least 3 other fronds to fall before it.
