Well here's a different topic...
For so many years ive had blackbirds nesting in my back yatd...i know they're not native, but i dont mind their song in the morning...& my yard is a yard that can feed birds well with bugs & nectar...so i get a good few small honey earers regularly chomping insects & sucking nectar...
Anyway...this year no blackbirds...they just disapeared...
...
Around the same time they vanished, a couple of native honey eaters moved in...
So like a crazy old man i talk to them here & there trying to get their trust (
)...and today, i was witness to one of the young fledglings on one its first outings...
The birds are "little wattlebirds"...
This is what they look like... (internet pic).
- Little wattlebird
- little_wattlebird_151624.jpg (118.62 KiB) Viewed 2705 times
Here is one of the adults watching me while i was getting too close to its young...
(Forgive the blurry pic --its a cropped pic taken at approx 5m away on a mobile)
- Screenshot_2019-10-06-19-42-07.png (998.73 KiB) Viewed 2705 times
Here is one of its babies...it was as stiff as a board & did not flinch at all when i was around...obviously a built in survival technique...
- Fledgling Little Wattlebird.
- Screenshot_2019-10-06-19-42-43.png (1.99 MiB) Viewed 2705 times
When i wasnt close it was quietly chirping away saying "look at me mum" where it was sitting...lol
It was on its way to getting dark & Mum & Dad were a little nervous with my presence & ended up flying away (50 odd yds) & watched from a distance so i went inside & let them get bubs back in the cot...
When i came back out 10 mons later, bubs was chirping away from in the tree & one of the parents were doing the smash-n-grab on a few insects on their way out for the night...
These birds have been visiting my yard on a seasonal basis for many years, but never nested...
Im not sure if there is a dominance thing between them & tge blackbirds, or if these are the same birds that usualky visit, or if they are young first time breeders...
Hopefully the latter is the case, & these natives are increasing in numbers here in suburbia...
Anyway...probably boring to most, but for me, its pretty cool i rekon...especially given its only metres from my back door in suburbia..
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...