(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley & Ged Tranter |
caterpillar vs Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) guess who won (Photo: courtesy of Craig Nieminski, Darwin, Northern Territory) | another caterpillar vs Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) (Photo: courtesy of Craig Nieminski, Darwin, Northern Territory) | another juicy caterpillar vs Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) (Photo: courtesy of Harold McQueen, Goodna, Queensland) | Danaus plexippus caterpillar vs Black-Eared Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx osculans) who said these caterpillars are poisonous? (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) |
The cuckoos typically find food by sitting still and watching. They'll then fly to a branch, or into grasses below and emerge with a caterpillar. They'll then sit on a branch and proceed to slap the caterpillar against the branch to disable it, and to dislodge as many bristles, etc., as possible, before wolfing it down in one gulp.
a caterpillar vs Oriental Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) | another caterpillar vs Oriental Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) | yet another caterpillar vs Oriental Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) | another caterpillar vs Little Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx minutillus) (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) |
Doratifera quadriguttata caterpillar vs Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) who said these caterpillars sting? (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) | Doratifera quadriguttata caterpillar vs Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) one just needs to hold them carefully (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) | Epicoma protrahens caterpillar vs Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) | another caterpillar vs Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) |
yet another caterpillar vs Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) | and yet another caterpillar vs Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) (Photo: courtesy of Ged Tranter, Brisbane, Queensland) |
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(written 15 December 2019, updated 13 January 2020, 17 July 2020, 21 March 2021)