cassowary baby photos

Our resident male cassowary has finally deemed his new chicks strong enough to cross the creek for a visit in our garden.

The young are now 8 weeks old (we know that, because he showed up at a neighbour's place when they were only a few days old), and quite adventurous, but following dad closely.

There are a few native trees and shrubs fruiting and the cassowary droppings contain a good amount of healthy (i.e. natural/wild) food.

One of our black palms has hundreds of fruits, but they might be too big for the little cassowaries. Last year I watched the female eating more than 40 -that's a bucket full!- of them in one sitting.

Spring is a great time in any garden, with lots of birds breeding. Does anyone know, how "tight" honey-eaters  are sitting on their eggs? Our graceful honey-eater seems to spend a lot of time away from the nest. I suppose, that a daily temperature of around 29 degrees is not enough for incubation?

Almost forgot: one of the most beautiful birds has returned to our area: the buff-breasted paradise kingfishers arrived 3 weeks ago from PNG, establishing their territories now with frequent calling. We have a number of their preferred termite mounds in our garden, but so far no one has moved in.

Christina