Back on 27 September, I posted a note on my local Noisy Miners being very
aggressive this year. The reason is now clear!
In previous years the miners nested in a 60 foot gum tree in next door's yard.
Since 27 September I've found (to my dismay) that the miners took up nesting
in one of my cypresses (cupressus sempervirens) near my back door - hence the
mere act of walking out the back got them going.
Last Saturday 2 November I was out the back when the fledgling came out of the
nest near me - the adult Noisy Miners weren't happy about this at all. The
young one could fly about three feet horizontally but couldn't get any lift.
I watched as it scrambled about a bit in my bushes and left it alone, but
about 20 minutes later it was sitting in the middle of the lawn and, as much
as I'm not a fan of Noisy Miners, I didn't want next door's cat getting this
immature bird.
So I picked it up and put it in my wattle tree. Picked it up - you can image
the adult miners' ballistic reaction to this - lots of divebombing and alarm
calls and I again felt their wings through my hair. A while later the
fledgling was again out in the open so again I picked it up and put it in my
wattle tree. This time a single peck to the back of my head - the only time
an adult miner made real contact.
As it was a sunny afternoon, "my" Blue-tongue Lizard wanted to come out for
some sunbaking. No way - the miners even harassed the lizard. What an racket
of an afternoon.
By very late afternoon, the fledgling was doing better at flying, now being
able to fly upwards and was at the top of the wattle tree and under reasonable
cover. I was now happy that it was safe, the adult miners were more
comfortable and the lizard even got an hour's sunbaking in. Peace was
restored.
The next day, peace continued to reign and there was no sign of the fledgling
- the adult miners were staying more around next door's gum tree rather than
my yard and I presume that the fledgling ended up there.
I will be watching next year to discourage the miners from nesting in my
yard!!
Cheers
Irene Denton
Sydney NSW
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