Kārearea juveniles - flying higher

Yesterday I passed by the kārearea ex-nest site on the way up the spur in the morning, and again on the way down in the afternoon. Pebbles and Bam-Bam were present on the way up, no sign of Fred or Wilma. They're acting - and looking - more mature every visit. Still darker brown than their parents, but already seem to be lightening. Their legs, cere, and eye-rings are still clearly blue-grey though, so no confusing them with their parents.

I have to admit I'm having some difficulty telling Pebbles and Bam-Bam apart. They seem to be looking more like one another than a few weeks ago. Perhaps we have two Pebbles.... or two Bam-Bams. Nope, they're Pebbles and Bam-Bam, and that's all there is to it! 😊

Pebbles in the early morning light below. I played around with colour temperature and exposure a bit, because why not? The second one where she was giving me that intense falcon stare suited cooler.

A few hours later, about midday, I was further up the spur on a kākāriki karaka nest watch, when I heard falcon caw-ing from high above. Three kārearea were circling overhead, quite some distance between them. They'd have been 100-200m above the canopy at a guess. Wild guess... one parent was taking the kids on altitude flight training. Why not, I'd be up there if I had wings.

Later that afternoon on the way down the spur Wilma (I think) and the kids were present, so I'm guessing Wilma was the flight instructor. Fred was probably hunting.

Here is Bam-Bam giving me that familiar stare as I passed by. The second photo I put in as he looks cute. Looks like he's sleeping, but is just scritching.

Kārearea - getting ready to leave home

I passed by the kārearea nest yesterday. First time past, I saw who I think was Pebbles (she looks like Wilma) was on a log near our rope, a couple of metres from our track. She screeched as I neared, then flew towards a branch closer to me, then closer again. After that she essentially ignored me. She preened for a while, then flew west off the spur, and a somewhat clumsy landing in some foliage.

I wondered where Bam-Bam was, then I heard a screech from the west side of the spur, and eventually found him on a branch about 80m from me.  He strutted up and down for a while, and screeched occasionally.

First three photos are Pebbles (I think), the last one Bam-Bam (I think!).

I passed by again later in the afternoon, and all was quiet. I waited for a while, wondering where Pebbles and Bam-Bam had got to. No sign of them around their nest site. They are pretty well camouflaged so a slow, careful scan is warranted. After five minutes or so I heard the classic "keh keh keh" of a kārearea off the west side of the spur. I found the pair of them on a branch about level with my location about 20m from me (it's a steep hill and they were perhaps 10-15m off the ground.

They remained on the branch for the time I was there (about half an hour), preening commonly, sometimes taking a power nap (not much more than five seconds), stretching, and suddenly alert to any noisy bird passing overhead. I fired off about 600 photos, I reduced this down to about 20. I decided not to reduce further, it's not often I get to see a pair of kārearea fledglings, it may be years before I get this opportunity again. No reason to be stingy with bandwidth!

Pebbles scritching while Bam-Bam watches

Watching a bird fly overhead

More scritching

Pebbles having a power nap

Stretching

Bam-Bam pulling out some residual chick fluff

Watching a bird fly overhead, still with a beak full of fluff

Pebbles watching Bam-Bam scritching this time

Back to Pebbles scritching

Nap time for both of them... for several seconds

Scritching and upside-down scritch watching again

It's hard work being a teenager

Kārearea - first flight

I saw Pebbles and Bam-Bam three days in a row, and they lose more fluff every visit. They're also acting more like adults and less like kids. They stand and stare and who knows what's going on behind those dark eyes.

I saw one of them (Pebbles, I think) fly. No photo unfortunately, I was too slow. She glided down the hill on the west side of the spur, then a minute later I heard her calling out from about level with me. So she'd been able to keep her altitude. Bam-Bam sat and looked around, and chatted on occasion. I have no idea whether or not he has already taken his first flight.

Kārearea - Wilma hunting near her nest

We were watching kākāriki karaka nests today. Pete was pretty close to the kārearea nest; he was leaning back watching a nest hole and Wilma (the mother falcon) flew in and perched on a branch directly overhead and watched the human. I'm pretty sure if a parakeet had poked her head out of her nest hole she'd have been watching one or the other of them. A triangular watch perhaps.

Here is Wilma on her perch, presumably looking for lunch, but also keeping an eye on the humans.