birding-aus

Re: White - Naped Honeyeater

To:
Subject: Re: White - Naped Honeyeater
From: Ronald Orenstein <>
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 11:54:49 -0400 (EDT)
At 12:57 15/07/96 +0930, you wrote:
>Hi , 
>
>I was out walking with the family in the Sturt Gorge CP in the Adelaide
>Hills and saw a WN Honeyeater feeding on Golden Wattle at about 30cm away.
> How close have others been to different birds in their natural habitat
>without disturbing them ?

>Peter Pfeiffer

Well, when I was studying Red-Browed Treecreepers along the Blue Gum Swamp
Creek road in Blue Mts NP near Sydney, way back in 1972-4, a White-eared
Honeyeater used to follow me up and down the road, and if I held still it
would hop onto my head and make vigorous attempts to yank out my hair for
nesting material.  You can't  get much closer than that.

I believe this sort of behaviour is not that unusual for white-ears - the
late Alec Chisholm has a photo of the same species on Keith Hindwood's head
in his book "Bird Wonders of Australia" (4th ed 1956), and devotes a whole
chapter of the book to "BIrds that steal human hair".
--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116 (home)
Home: 1825 Shady Creek Court                  Messages: (416) 368-4661
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 3W2          Internet: 
Office: 130 Adelaide Street W., Suite 1940    
Toronto, Ontario Canada M5H 3P5             

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