Our first Gang-gang chick emerges

Thank you to all 51 of you that have contributed Gang-gang hollow activity images to this project. We have our first sighting of a chick by Katie O'Connor in Campbelltown.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102051305

Well done Katie. The white bill is a good indicator of a young bird. We are not sure how long the greying process takes but it is at least weeks and probably months. Sometimes there is confusion when youngish looking birds are reported as new chicks. The presence of a white bill or not is a good way to cross-check such claims.

Given Katie's great observation it would be good for all to check the hollows they are watching over the next few days. However we have 12 identified active nests in the Canberra area and some of those have only just laid eggs and chicks won't appear till towards the end of January and our earliest is expected around Christmas. Will be interesting to see whether all Campbelltown pairs are early breeders (which may aid their survival as they will miss the higher temperatures of mid -late summer. We suspect that in 2019-2020 we lost two chicks in Canberra to heat exhaustion while they were still in the hollow). We are still checking potential nests that people have alerted us to and expect to find between 15-20 nests. So far we have checked about 100 hollows for our 12 nests and many nests of known Gang-gang interest are empty (even of potential competitors such as sulphur crested cockatoos or rainbow lorikeets). Will keep you informed of results and please let us know if you have activity at the hollows you are watching.

Thanks again and particularly to Katie and the Campbelltown crew

Publicado el noviembre 29, 2021 08:48 TARDE por michaelmulvaney michaelmulvaney

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