What ya doing Dad?

With the weather turning milder this week I thought a walk at the local Fitzroy Gardens might make a nice change to lurking in the Chinatown laneways looking for new street art. I did not expect much other than a nice walk and a short bird list. I did find the usual urban park birds and a few surprises, a kookaburra being an unexpected highlight and a pair of Pied Currawongs – adult and juvenile. Being around lunch time the adult Currawong was cleaning and preening itself along the small rainforest creek that runs down the centre of the park. I spent some time filming the Currawongs with my iPhone. The Currawong was using chunks of dirt and getting deep into its feathers for a good clean. It then would hop over to the creek and have a deep vigorous wash. After a drying preen on a nearby branch it would start again on a different area of its feathers. Meanwhile the young Currawong was making small calls and watching intensely trying to figure it all out. When the adult flew off it stayed and had a go at picking in the dirt but it seemed to think it was looking for food rather than good chunks to use for cleaning. I have seen birds washing, preening, sand bathing before but never selecting chunk of dirt to use as a scrub in those hard to reach places….

click image to watch video clip