A few hundred metres along the coast from Burdan's Gate, on the Eastern shore of Wellington Harbour, I watched a pair of variable oystercatchers foraging. Their one, almost-fully-fledged offspring (shown here) pursued one or the other of the parents, harassing them for a feed. I guess teenagers of most species resemble each other in at least some respects.
[1 March 2014, Olympus OM-D EM-1, Panasonic 100-300mm f/4.0-5.6 at 300mm, ISO 400, 1/2500 at f/5.6]
All content © 2014 Pete McGregor
At least he's not trying to cadge money or a lift back from some obscure venue at 2 a.m.
ReplyDeleteLast spring I had the entertainment of watching a fat baby blackbird begging food from ANY other bird, including sparrows. When no one else was on the bird table he got on with feeding himself. (I say 'he' after years of experience!)
All lanky and gawky, not sure where to land it's feets.
ReplyDeleteHow right you are. Last season we watched an adolescent galah practising the 'noisy entitlement' whinge. On and on and on. Until an adult bird reached over and rapped it smartly over the head. Blissful silence ensued.
ReplyDeleteRR, that had me laughing out loud. Yes — obviously a comment based on years of experience ;^D
ReplyDeleteZhoen, yes, it did seem uncoordinated at times. Its one short flight low across the beach to one of the parents looked more like a horizontal fall.
EC, I love that expression: 'the noisy entitlement whinge'.