Regular readers of birding-aus will have read about the pair of
Grey-fronted Honeyeaters that nested outside my office at the Argyle
Diamond Mine in the north east Kimberley of WA in November and December
last year successfully fledging one bird from two eggs. If you missed my
reports, then I summarised them on my web site at
http://www.iinet.net.au/~foconnor/ on my Articles page.
It appears that once was not enough and they are going for it again! I
can't be certain, but it appears to be the same pair. I still see the
juvenile occasionally in the general area. It now looks like an adult
except that its bill is yellow/orange with a black tip.
The previous nest was in a dead acacia that had fallen over against the
roof. This tree has been removed. The new nest is in the leaves at the
end of a thin branch hanging vertically down. The tree is about 6 metres
tall and is growing very close to the roof. The nest is about 2 metres
above the ground underneath the few leaves (about 0.5 metres below the roof
line). The previous nest was slightly under the eaves giving some
protection from the rain but in the open amonst dead mistletoe. This new
nest appears to be directly below the edge of the roof, and so I would
expect it to be deluged with water from the roof when it rains. It is
about 1 metre very slightly to the right of my office window (within a
metre to the left of where the previous nest was). The branch also moves
around a lot in the wind, whereas the previous nest was quite stable
because the tree was dead.
They began the nest on Saturday 17th January 1998. I first noticed them at
about 10am, but I thought that it was only foraging. I saw the bird again
at 12 noon and this time I noticed the very early stages of a nest. The
nest is again made of spider webs with a few dead grass stems used. It is
in the fork of two thin stems (about 4mm diameter each) and is tied to one
stem in two places and to the other in one place. I saw both adults
together very near the nest at 13:45. This contrasts greatly with their
first nest which I noticed them beginning shortly after 6am and they were
very active with the general shape of the nest evident at the end of the
first day and it was complete in three to four days.
I only saw the bird at the nest twice on the second day (Sunday). This was
at 10am and 11:45. On both occasions the bird called before it left the
nest. Shortly after the second time an adult Brown Honeyeater very briefly
visited the nest site. This happened several times with the first nest.
Today (Monday) is day three. Again there has been comparatively litle
activity. I saw the bird at the nest at 6:40am, 7:10, 7:35, 14:25, 14:30
and 15:00. Again it called on a couple of occasions before it left the
nest. On the first occasion it briefly harrassed a Yellow-throated Miner.
They harrassed a group of Yellow-throated Miners about 3pm but this is
probably independent of the nesting and more just defending its territory.
At 9am I saw a pair of Gey-fronted Honeyeaters at the light vehicle wash
down bay about 50 metres from my office, but it is possible that they were
different individuals. At 15:00 it brought in a grass stem about 10 to
12cm long and weaved it into the nest (although not very well).
The nest is still at a very early stage of construction. It is surprising
to me that the same bird is taking so much longer to build this nest.
This is the last day of my commute, so I when I return in two weeks I will
be interested to see if they have persevered.
Frank O'Connor
PS : There has been very little rain here this wet season. However there
have been some good birds (73 species) : Buff-banded Rail (my first at
Argyle after 9 years), Brush Cuckoo, Clamorous Reed-warbler (finished
nesting), Magpie-lark (finished feeding juvenile), Olive-backed Oriole,
Wandering Whistling-duck, Pink-eared Duck (absent in December), Royal
Spoonbill, (immature) Swamp Harrier, Nankeen Night Heron, Rufous Songlark
(very common as usual in the wet season), Black-tailed Treecreeper,
Pictorella Mannikin, Red-kneed Dotterel, etc.
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