Sal's Pix & Critter Stories

The Sweeping Saga of Sweep, the Cuckoo-Shrike

Sal Badcock Studio & Gallery
Mission Beach, North Queensland, Australia
email Sal

June 2005 Marni & I were driving home from The Studio, when I saw something flutter down onto the road beside us. It was a little wee baby bird. So I stopped and ran back to get him before a car came along and cleaned him up.
The poor little baby was covered in green ants. I brushed them all off, meanwhile he was screaming and his parents were swooping me. And of course his nest had to be way up at the very top of the tree.
Now as I don't fly so good, and he wasn't up to it either, I took him to a local bird carer.
On the way there, Marni & I named him Sweep, after the little dog puppet in Sooty & Sweep, cos he sounded just like him.

One of Sweeps eyes had been pretty severely munched by the mean and nasty green ants. The carer & I both thought that he would lose his eye. She said that if that happened, she would have to put him out of his misery.
She contacted me a couple of days later to say that she was taking him back to where I found him in the hope that his parents would come and get him. We let him go, and he had his first ever flight. He wobbled his way up into a big tree where we couldn't get to him. So we left him and hoped that his Mum & Dad would turn up to get him.
I went back later that day and could hear him squeaking. I followed the sound and found him on the ground and again the poor little baby was covered in green ants. They were munching his eye again.
It appeared that his parents had indeed come to get him, but that he couldn't fly well enough to follow them.
So this time, I went to see the bird carer to get instructions as to what to feed him. We had to try and work out what he was from the very brief glimpses I had gotten of his parents while I was ducking them.

I popped him into one of Marni's unused mouse cages and brought him home. I checked out one of my bird books and happened upon a photo of a mother and baby cuckoo-shrike, and there he was.
The one on the left is a Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike & her babies and the one on the right is a White-Breasted or Little Cuckoo-Shrike.
Sweep's parents were definitely the White-Breasted variety, but obviously the babies of both types are very similar.

He was so-ooo cute, he would get cold and need a cuddle, so I'd pick him up and cover him with my hands, and immediately he would fluff up and go to sleep.
I am very lucky and to have a friend who is our National Parks & Wildlife Ranger and another who involved with our local Wildcare rescue group. So I had loads of advice from them. The Ranger's first comment was 'I hope you realise that you are going to have him for a long time'. She has also cared for cuckoo-shrikes so she was a great source of info.
Apparently cuckoo-shrikes hang out with their parents still feeding them for months as they need to learn how to catch insects on the wing. Unfortunately I don't fly so well, so he hung out with us in varying cages for around 10 months.

They are insectivores but in the absence of bugs dry puppy food soaked in water is a suitable replacement. Sweepy's diet consisted of any grasshopers small enough for him, any flies or bugs we could find, mealie worms, Marsh Flies when they were in season and puppy food.
He made the cutest little baby sounds when I was feeding him. I was very definietly Mummy Bird. I started out using a pair of disposable tweezers as my beak, but when they broke, we graduated to a paddle pop stick.
The green ants appeared to have done some permanant damage to the tearducts around his eye and he had a watery eye most of the time. But luckily his eyesight appeared to be fine. He had some issues early on where he'd wake up in the morning with his eye glued shut, but that gradually stopped.

He was the most delightful little charactor. I have talked with quite a few people who have rehabilitated cuckoo-shrikes, and they all say the same thing, they love them. They love their charactors and also because they let you help them, a lot of birds apparently can be difficult to handle.
He had a big aviary outside where he went going during the day. But we brought him inside of a night as we hadn't python proofed the cage. Because I was still feeding him, he also got to go everywhere with us in his little mouse cage. He would have to be the most well-travelled cuckoo-shrike alive I reckon. He went shopping to Cairns on numerous occasions, he went up onto the Atherton Tablelands, had loads of trips to Dunk Island and he was even an honorary Girl Guide (I'm a Guide leader, Lorikeet's my name).
It was very cute I had my Girl Guides collecting Marsh Flies for him. They loved him.

Very early on in Sweep's new life, he bashed his tail feathers off. So we ended up with him for a lot longer than we initially thought. He could still fly beautifully without his tail feathers but his landings and steering were atrocious.
He looked pretty funny without them, all short and stubby. It took months for them to grow back. In fact we even decided that he was probably sitting in his cage pulling them out so I couldn't release him.

But finally after about 6 months, they started to grow back.
We started turning the fans off inside and letting him fly around so that he could get some good flying practice in.

The Release
Then finally... one Thursday after 10 months of love and care, came the big day...

I confess, I was very very nervous and scared and a hundred other things. Talk about a paranoid mother.
We did what you call a 'Soft Release'. Instead of returning him to where he came from, we released him here at home.
We live in a fabuous birdy place with loads of trees and rainforest around.
Apparently 'Soft Release' is the prefered option for a bird who has been in care as long as Sweepy has.
My friends both said that the chances are that Sweepy will probably hang around and come for help if he needs it.
Some birds continue coming 'home' at night for weeks after release, then all of a sudden they are grown up enough and you don't see them again.

On the Ranger's advice I waited until around lunchtime when the other birds had settled down a bit and there was less chance of him being attacked. Then I carried him outside and just let him go. He flew up into our big Euodia tree and sat there looking around. I reckon he was commenting on just how big this new cage was. He wandered around from branch to branc for a while. Then we lost sight of him.
It was a very sad and scary moment. I was a total mess and full of turmoil. I felt happy and sad and scared and all I could think of were the what-if's. You know, what-if he couldn't fly well enough and ended up on the ground again, or what-if he got attacked by a butcherbird, or what-if he got eaten by a python on his first night out.
Even though people had said that he might hang around, there was some part of me that thought I had seen him for the last time. I didn't sleep at all well that first night. I thought that I would love to see him the next day, even just that once, to know that he was OK.

He was nowhere to be seen in the morning, so I just got on with things, mind you my neck was getting pretty stiff from scanning the tree-tops.
Then just as I had forgotten him for a little while, I saw him on the power lines. I raced outside and he imediately started calling me. It was obvious that he really really wanted to come down, but could quite work out how.
I spent the next 1 1/2 hours with him following me around the yard calling me. I finally got him in a tree that has branches all the way down, and he came straight down and sat in front of me.

I was so excited. I gave him a little bit of food, then he still sat there looking hopefully at me. So I picked him up and he nestled right into my hands as I took him back into his aviary, he promptly sat in there preening and relaxing for about 4 hours before he left again.
When I got home from Guides, he had come and yahooed at Kim until he had gone outside, Sweepy came and landed on the fence beside him at about 6pm. So Kim popped him in his cage and shut him in (pythons)

He then started coming in for a snack, he'd sit in his cage for a while, then off he'd go. It was just wonderful. We set up a few big branches leaning on things so he could land down low and get into his cage.
He set up the pattern of coming home to sleep, he'd come down and yahoo until someone went out and shut him in overnight, then we'd open the door in the morning and off he'd go again when he was ready.
He used to follow us around the yard whenever he'd see us.

Then came 'Cyclone Larry'...

We knew 'Larry' was headed our way and that he was going to be a big one.
I also knew from other people that birds tend to go away in the calm period before a big blow. So when Sweepy came in to sleep the day before the cyclone, I kept him in and didn't let him go as usual.
Kim made sure his cage wasn't going anywhere.
Then the night the cyclone was going to hit, we brought Sweepy inside into his little cage and kept him safe with us.
Obviously his little world had changed in that there were no leaves on the trees, and not many trees. So we kept him out in his big cage for a couple of days. Then let him go again. He was gone all day, I think he got lost. Then he came back as usual, and set up the pattern of staying out to sleep, or coming in as he pleased. We'd always know when he wanted to come in for the night, as he would hang around and yahoo, until someone went and got him.
Some evenings he would wait until it was nearly dark and then the silly thing couldn't see enough to come into his cage. One night Kim actually climbed up onto the roof, grabbed him off the TV arial, shoved him down his shirt and carried him back down. Funny stuff.

Speaking of funny.... Sweep taking a bath. I have never seen a bird get so wet in the rain!

So that is how life was for the next 3 monthes. Sweep hung around for free snacks, in fact he was here every morning sitting on the back of a chair on the verandah waiting.... waiting and yahooing for his breakfast. He'd also visit at other times during the day. And was especially frequent when I was painting out there.
Obviously he has just had a bath. He used to come and inspect the paintings, and even ran off with my chalk a couple of times.

He was especially helpful with this next painting....
He kept coming and sitting on me, or on the painting. At one point he skidded through some paint, I was in the process of fixing it when he came a grabbed the end of my paintbrush. When I pushed him away, he grabbed the business end... completely loaded with red paint! He of course ended up with paint everywhere.
I grabbed him and took him to the tap and was rinsing of his beak, when I realised he had a mouthful of red paint. So I opened his mouth & rinsed him out, then held him upside down so all the paint and water ran out. It was so funny. Then I popped him in his cage, all the while hoping that the paint was not toxic.
Obviously it wasn't, he survived and contuinued to bother me at work, and a very nice bother he was too.

He was extremely impressed with Kim's boxer shorts.

And shared Kim's special fondness for his bike!

I knew that sooner or later that Sweepy would go off and be a big brave bird by himself.
And finally that day came. Marni was the lucky one to see him last, and he just didn't come back.
Apparently that is the usual way of things.
One day, they just wake up and decide that it's time to grow up and leave the nest.
We didn't see any sign of cuckoo-shrikes in the area for the next 2 months. Then I heard one outside.
I ran out and was talking to him and calling his name. I really had no idea if he would recognise me or not.
The bird sat in the trees and chirped at me while preening happily.
It flew off, but returned 3 times that day. It's pretty easy to think that maybe it was him.
I have since seen this same bird a quite a few times and each time it is quite calm and relaxed around us.
I'd certainly like to think that it is my baby.
It has been the most fabulous experience. I can't describe how it feels when a little birds allows you to share it's life.
He was so much a part of our family for a long time.
It was not only wonderful for us, but lots of other people and kids got to share his life too and to learn things about birds that they didn't know.
I believe firmly that education is the most important gift we can give our kids, and they certainly are the conservationists of our future.

Thankyou Sweep

Home

June 2005 Marni & I were driving home from The Studio, when I saw something flutter down onto the road beside us. It was a little wee baby bird. So I stopped and ran back to get him before a car came along and cleaned him up. The poor little baby was covered in green ants. I brushed them all off, meanwhile he was screaming and his parents were swooping me. And of course his nest had to be way up at the very top of the tree. Now as I don't fly so good, and he wasn't up to it either, I took him to a local bird carer. On the way there, Marni & I named him Sweep, after the little dog puppet in Sooty & Sweep, cos he sounded just like him.

	One of Sweeps eyes had been pretty severely munched by the mean and nasty green ants. The carer & I both thought that he would lose his eye. She said that if that happened, she would have to put him out of his misery. She contacted me a couple of days later to say that she was taking him back to where I found him in the hope that his parents would come and get him. We let him go, and he had his first ever flight. He wobbled his way up into a big tree where we couldn't get to him. So we left him and hoped that his Mum & Dad would turn up to get him. I went back later that day and could hear him squeaking. I followed the sound and found him on the ground and again the poor little baby was covered in green ants. They were munching his eye again. It appeared that his parents had indeed come to get him, but that he couldn't fly well enough to follow them. So this time, I went to see the bird carer to get instructions as to what to feed him. We had to try and work out what he was from the very brief glimpses I had gotten of his parents while I was ducking them.

I popped him into one of Marni's unused mouse cages and brought him home. I checked out one of my bird books and happened upon a photo of a mother and baby cuckoo-shrike, and there he was. The one on the left is a Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike & her babies and the one on the right is a White-Breasted or Little Cuckoo-Shrike. Sweep's parents were definitely the White-Breasted variety, but obviously the babies of both types are very similar.

	He was so-ooo cute, he would get cold and need a cuddle, so I'd pick him up and cover him with my hands, and immediately he would fluff up and go to sleep. I am very lucky and to have a friend who is our National Parks & Wildlife Ranger and another who involved with our local Wildcare rescue group. So I had loads of advice from them. The Ranger's first comment was 'I hope you realise that you are going to have him for a long time'. She has also cared for cuckoo-shrikes so she was a great source of info. Apparently cuckoo-shrikes hang out with their parents still feeding them for months as they need to learn how to catch insects on the wing. Unfortunately I don't fly so well, so he hung out with us in varying cages for around 10 months.

They are insectivores but in the absence of bugs dry puppy food soaked in water is a suitable replacement. Sweepy's diet consisted of any grasshopers small enough for him, any flies or bugs we could find, mealie worms, Marsh Flies when they were in season and puppy food. He made the cutest little baby sounds when I was feeding him. I was very definietly Mummy Bird. I started out using a pair of disposable tweezers as my beak, but when they broke, we graduated to a paddle pop stick. The green ants appeared to have done some permanant damage to the tearducts around his eye and he had a watery eye most of the time. But luckily his eyesight appeared to be fine. He had some issues early on where he'd wake up in the morning with his eye glued shut, but that gradually stopped.

	He was the most delightful little charactor. I have talked with quite a few people who have rehabilitated cuckoo-shrikes, and they all say the same thing, they love them. They love their charactors and also because they let you help them, a lot of birds apparently can be difficult to handle. He had a big aviary outside where he went going during the day. But we brought him inside of a night as we hadn't python proofed the cage. Because I was still feeding him, he also got to go everywhere with us in his little mouse cage. He would have to be the most well-travelled cuckoo-shrike alive I reckon. He went shopping to Cairns on numerous occasions, he went up onto the Atherton Tablelands, had loads of trips to Dunk Island and he was even an honorary Girl Guide (I'm a Guide leader, Lorikeet's my name). It was very cute I had my Girl Guides collecting Marsh Flies for him. They loved him.

Very early on in Sweep's new life, he bashed his tail feathers off. So we ended up with him for a lot longer than we initially thought. He could still fly beautifully without his tail feathers but his landings and steering were atrocious. He looked pretty funny without them, all short and stubby. It took months for them to grow back. In fact we even decided that he was probably sitting in his cage pulling them out so I couldn't release him.

	But finally after about 6 months, they started to grow back. We started turning the fans off inside and letting him fly around so that he could get some good flying practice in.


On the Ranger's advice I waited until around lunchtime when the other birds had settled down a bit and there was less chance of him being attacked. Then I carried him outside and just let him go. He flew up into our big Euodia tree and sat there looking around. I reckon he was commenting on just how big this new cage was. He wandered around from branch to branc for a while. Then we lost sight of him. It was a very sad and scary moment. I was a total mess and full of turmoil. I felt happy and sad and scared and all I could think of were the what-if's. You know, what-if he couldn't fly well enough and ended up on the ground again, or what-if he got attacked by a butcherbird, or what-if he got eaten by a python on his first night out. Even though people had said that he might hang around, there was some part of me that thought I had seen him for the last time. I didn't sleep at all well that first night. I thought that I would love to see him the next day, even just that once, to know that he was OK.

	He was nowhere to be seen in the morning, so I just got on with things, mind you my neck was getting pretty stiff from scanning the tree-tops. Then just as I had forgotten him for a little while, I saw him on the power lines. I raced outside and he imediately started calling me. It was obvious that he really really wanted to come down, but could quite work out how. I spent the next 1 1/2 hours with him following me around the yard calling me. I finally got him in a tree that has branches all the way down, and he came straight down and sat in front of me.

I was so excited. I gave him a little bit of food, then he still sat there looking hopefully at me. So I picked him up and he nestled right into my hands as I took him back into his aviary, he promptly sat in there preening and relaxing for about 4 hours before he left again. When I got home from Guides, he had come and yahooed at Kim until he had gone outside, Sweepy came and landed on the fence beside him at about 6pm. So Kim popped him in his cage and shut him in (pythons)

	He then started coming in for a snack, he'd sit in his cage for a while, then off he'd go. It was just wonderful. We set up a few big branches leaning on things so he could land down low and get into his cage. He set up the pattern of coming home to sleep, he'd come down and yahoo until someone went out and shut him in overnight, then we'd open the door in the morning and off he'd go again when he was ready. He used to follow us around the yard whenever he'd see us.