wrote:
>
> G'day all
>
> I recently watched a male Superb Fairy-wren performing a display of
> some
> sort. The bird was in the southern Grampians N.P. in south west
> Victoria.
>
> The bird was creeping along the ground, mouselike, weaving its way
> around
> small shrubs, bits of wood etc. Its tail and head were lowered giving
> it
> a humpbacked appearance. My impression was that the blue patches on
> the
> head and upper body were raised or fluffed up somehow as they
> certainly
> seemd prominent. The bird was silent throughout this performance
> which
> went on for several minutes.
>
> I presume this was some sort of female attracting device but none of
> the
> other wrens in the vicinity seemed to pay any attention.
>
> No doubt this behaviour has been observed by others but I hadn't seen
> it
> before.
>
> Cheers
>
> Steve
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> Stephen Clark
> Agriculture Victoria, Pastoral & Veterinary Institute
> Private Bag 105 HAMILTON 3300 Australia
> Phone 0355 730 977 Fax 0355 711 523
>
> ------------------------------------------------
I think this may have been the 'Rodent-Run' behaviour described by
Schodde and others - usually to distract and mislead ground-based
predator from nest. More convincing from a brown bird than a blue one.
ANTHEA FLEMING
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