Callocephalon fimbriatum

A friend let me know they had just seen/heard a young gang-gang begging at private property near Mongarlowe. We've been searching for nests in the area - I was sure gang-gangs were breeding, but we just could not find the hollow(s). So, after a bit of discussion, I jumped in the car and tootled out. An hour and a half later, and there, high above me, was a newly fledged female gang-gang chick. Her smooth, cream beak; her pink knees and green-sheened feathering; her behaviour - curious chewing of a stick, then chewing at her feet; and the blobby way she sat in the tree; all confirmed she was a new fledgling (which meant her hollow would not be far away). The fledgling stayed put for over two hours, variously sleeping, then moving carefully around her twiggy perch. Around 5.30 we heard an adult gang-gang call, and suddenly the chick woke up, crying loudly for her parent(s). A male gang-gang came to a dam and, I assume, drank, before flying to a tree close to the chick. The chick called. Dad stayed where he was, then flew to a branch close to her, where she begged to be fed, but was ignored, and Dad flew to another tree. The chick called, dad stayed put. Then the chick flapped to the tree where dad perched. He continue to move away from her, leading her to follow him, before he flew to another tree. The chick followed, complaining. At this third tree, the chick begged again, and dad fed her - but only once. He then flew off, leaving her on a new perch. Finally, a question that has plagued me since beginning to observe gang-gang nesting behaviour was answered, which was - how do gang-gang parents herd their chicks to move where they need them to, eg moving one chick to where the other would be waiting, so siblings are together. The answer - gang-gang parents encourage/cajole their chicks to move in the same way they encourage them to fledge. I had to leave, but my friend continued to observe. The adult female and male returned before 7, where mum also drank. Both parents then moved the fledgling, flying forward, then back close to her, then forward, leading her away. They were joined by a number of other gang-gangs. Unfortunately, we don't know where the family went, and whether they gathered up another waiting sibling, or even just took this chick closer to a hollow where a sibling might be waiting to fledge. But we are richer with the knowledge that they do breed out there!