I actually just took him outside and let him fly away, as he was flapping furiously at the windows and Mum and Dad were nowhere around to show him where to get out (they have a gap above the top windows, but he was down at the bottom of the large windows opposite).
He was sitting at the window ledge on the floor, looking flustered, and I didn't want him to fly around and stun himself, so I bent down to pick him up, with no protest from him. He nestled quietly in my hand and carried him outside. I grabbed my camera, hoping he might hang around for a photo op, but as soon as I opened my hand out, he flew off up into the eaves under the verandah, then off to the trees nearby.
I hope he finds his parents out there. I figure Pardalotes have such a penetrating call, surely he'll meet up with Mum or Dad outside, if that's what Pardalotes do. There are plenty of suitable spots around the house to make a nest, and the big meat-eating birds haven't been around for a while (there is a large group of choughs, but they eat seeds ... including our grass seed!)
Mum and Dad have been looking for him inside, chirping melodically but not sounding alarmed. They must have decided he was big enough for solids - one came in with a juicy caterpillar in its beak, and couldn't work out why Junior didn't respond, but Junior had flown the nest.
The only sign I could find of Junior was a tiny half eggshell dropped in the loungeroom.... at the other end of the house from the nest. They often fly looping along the top windows to go in and out at that end, although they can just as easily get out just above their nest hole.
Today, they're back to normal, flying in and out when they feel like it and chittering softly. Maybe one of them is Junior - I have no way of knowing, as they all look alike. They've been quite active, and when I made a coffee a little while ago one popped out of the nest to watch me. I wonder if they're feeling broody again.
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