Callocephalon fimbriatum

A dramatic two days with one gang-gang chick during the early January heatwave. The second day of the heat wave had been unrelentingly hot. That evening, I was surprised to see the female chick completely out of her hollow, and assumed the heat had driven her out (Photo 1). The next morning arrived, baking hot and very windy. We went up to check the nests for fallen fledglings, and all nests seemed okay - except Tom 4. I heard the chick calling, but could not see where, until I looked down. She was low in a bush, and unsteady. TomT and I did shifts watching her throughout the day. She was unable to climb higher on the bush, battling the wind, and eventually flapped onto the ground and stayed for a couple of hours, resting. Tom moved her higher, where mum and dad fed her, but she found her way down again. Later in the day, she tried to fly from her branch, but ended up at the base of her nest-hollow tree. She stumble-walked around the base until she found a slightly angled part of the trunk, and, to our impressed astonishment, began to make her way up the trunk, pulling herself by her beak and her claws. She worked her way up the trunk, around 3 metres high, but the trunk bent backwards, with nowhere for her to go. Mum and dad were watching intently, and mum flew to a nearby branch above her, encouraging her up. It was becoming dark, and mum flew onto the trunk and fed her daughter. We didn't think we could leave her there, as she would be easy prey for foxes, cats or possums. CamT managed to carefully move her, high up in a nearby sapling, where she clung - all the while watched by her parents. We left, wondering whether she would survive. The next morning Tom was there early, and, to our relief, she was still there. Again, we took it in shifts to watch over her. Mum and dad fed and groomed her throughout the morning. Around 10am, as the adults quietly encouraged and assured her, the little one suddenly took off, flying 50m down the hill to an old, established tree