The noisy miner have some of the largest group sizes of any communally breeding bird , with up to twenty males and one female attending a single brood . Only males help with a nest , and while many birds may be associated with a particular brood , some males devote all their time to a single nest , while others spread their helping efforts across five or six nests . Behavioural evidence and genetic testing indicate that helpers are male offspring of the breeding pair , or full siblings of the male parent . Males nearly always bring food to the nestling singly , and if several arrive at once one will pass food to a nestling while the others wait . The female leave the nest quickly when a male bird arrive , and never take food from one of the helpers . Communal feeding of the young increases after fledging , and the young beg for food with constant ' chip chip ' calls and gaping mouths . The female rarely feed the young birds after they have fledged .