Here is one of those trivial little question messages. About 100 m from my
home in southern Canberra there is a nest of a Spotted Pardalote dug in
someone's front garden flower bed. About 4 metres directly above in a
eucalypt is a nest of a Noisy Friarbird. I'm not sure what stage either are
at but it looks like incubation. The Spotted Pardalote approaches its nest,
by gradually going down the tree to the lowest twigs then down onto the
ground. Several times I have seen the Noisy Friarbird attack the Spotted
Pardalote with extraordinary vigour and pursue for as much as 100 metres,
twisting and following through the trees. It is well known that big
honeyeaters are cantankerous beasts but the intensity of its nastiness
really is remarkable. Although I have in the past been attacked by Noisy
Friarbirds at their nest, this one doesn't bother people (or not yet) and
doesn't seem too bothered by other birds (even the Pied Currawong incubating
on a nest about 30 metres away). Yet it seems to like to ambush a tiny bird
that surely must hardly be relevant to it. Maybe it thinks it is a big juicy
cicada.
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