Animal Diaries Archive

We are family; Mum, Dad and me!

28 October 2005

This week the Rainforest Aviary isn't the only place where love is in the air! Just right outside the aviary's doors two wild Bush-Stone Curlews have become buddies. They have bonded, made love and - oops - they now have a baby. I guess it's kind of like seeing the Eiffel Tower with people underneath looking up. Why? Because the baby is so tiny and cute with its zebra stripes, while mum and dad are motley and tall.

For 28 days it was limited trespassing at the bottom right-hand corner of the aviary, but sometimes it had to be done to be able to do our perimeter check. Every time you'd go down there you would come across two scornful looks of intrusion. Their mournful cry of "you're too close!" makes you turn around and tip-toe away. We were relieved when the baby hatched, thinking we could walk around the perimeter of the aviary without a hassle... we were wrong. Now they are even more protective and defensive, but good on them - they are great parents.

Everyday I check on how the bub is going, and she/he is learning fast from his/her parents. Bush-Stone Curlews rely on camouflage as their main protection against predators. This means lying down and stretching out as long as they can to make them look like a piece of timber. Usually when I do my check, mum would tuck bub under her wing and get down in camouflage mode. On one particular day bub escaped mum's wing swipe, ran up mum's tail and stood on her back. Mum was not happy! She let out a cry and bub before she/he knew it was in camouflage mode too.

Well, as you can see this is yet another success story and I'll keep you posted on how the family is getting along. Until then, cheerio!