Gang-gang Fledgling Identification

Fledgling or juvenile? Male head colouring varies and makes age determination difficult.

Gang-gang Fledging Identification Guide

There are beak and feet features that can distinguish chicks that have fledged within the last few days, say up to 3-5 days after fledging. While there are feather differences that can identify young birds from adults. Although we don’t know how far a fledging may travel in its first 5 days, we have observed that for at least some families they tend to stay within a few hundred metres of the nest hollow. So observing all or most of the below features is probably an indication that a breeding event has occurred nearby.

Mum and daughter note: difference in beak shine and whiteness

Features of Newly Fledged Birds

Beaks
Beaks of newly fledged are shiny white. The beaks shade quickly to dull grey. It seems to be related to exposure to the sun so some chicks that spend a lot of time looking out of a hollow prior to fledging may have already “greyed” up a beak. Nevertheless presence of a white beak is good evidence of recent fledging

Feet
While at the hollow rim chicks can be observed chewing their feet and lower legs, and they continue this practice in the first few days of fledging. We aren’t sure why they chew their legs but it may be that they are removing a skin like membranous covering of their feet and lower legs. or mites or simply hardening their legs up to provide better perch grip. Possibly because of this chewing their legs, particularly the knees, have a pinkish-white tinge rather than the grey of older birds.

Feather Sheen
All of the feathers on the newly fledged are relatively new, so they have a clean, crisp and shiny appearance as opposed to older birds. The green tinge on the back of females is prominent as may be their belly striping.

White spotting on female fledging underwing

Features of Immature Birds

Male Crests
Male chicks emerge with a Mohawk hairstyle and short crest. However, the amount of red on their head and its patchiness seems to vary widely amongst individuals . We have seen similar looking heads on day one fledged chicks as we have observed on 9-10 month juveniles. So head pattern is indicative of a young bird, not solely a newly fledged one.

Underwings
The higher underwings of young birds have white spots. Higgins (1999) in the Handbook for Australian Birds describes it for both young males and females as “underwing-coverts more sparsely spotted and barred” which gives the appearance of spottiness. Adult males have almost purely grey plain underwings.
Adult female underwings are more barred than spotty.

Acknowledgement

The information on this page was kindly provided by Michael Mulvaney based on work done by researchers and the Canberra and ACT Gang-gang community. Thank you for your support in helping us understand our Gippsland Gang-gang population and for your great work in promoting Gang-gang conservation across the nation.

Gang-gang Fledging Identification Guide

Features of Newly Fledged Birds

Features of Immature Birds

Adult female underwing

Young male with spotty underwing prepares to take 1st flight

Male Fledgling at Turtons Creek

Acknowledgement