|
I wonder, where is "GBS Central"? Am I
missing something? I had not thought of that as a location.
I have had one pair of Pied Currawongs have a nest in the big
tree in my yard during September. The young disappeared whilst I was away for
two weeks attending the BA congress in Qld. There was no sign of them when I
returned. As they usually hang around for at least several weeks after fledging
and they weren't close to fledging before I went away, I'm pretty sure that the
young perished but I don't know how. The adults quickly built another nest
nearby in the same tree and had hatched young by the start of December. I went
away for a family visit to Melbourne three weeks ago and there was no sign of
either the chicks or nest on my return. These were only young chicks so nil
possibility of a successful fledging there. Since then the Currawongs don't
defend the tree and the Noisy Friarbirds have moved in. I'm not sure which I
dislike more. I would like to think they fed a passing Square-tailed Kite
but I'd need a lot more evidence of that than wishful thinking. I suppose that
Pied Currawongs may be cannibals if the opportunity arises or predation by
ravens or goshawks is also possible. There is obviously at least one other
successful Currawong nesting nearby as I saw a dy in the park yesterday.
As for the name, my brother (trying to test my bird name
skills) asked me what do Currawongs eat at the football? thinking that Pied
relates in some way to "pies".
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From:
martin butterfield <>
To:
canberrabirds <>
Date:
Friday, 24 December 2004 12:39
Subject: [canberrabirds]
<Blank> Currawongs
I have previously mentioned the large number of
currawong nests close to GBS Central. In the last couple of weeks all
seem to have fledged their young (although one appears to have forgotten a
basic rule of flying - such as 'open wings' or 'flap' - and crashed
with fatal results). Earlier this week we had 16 currawongs calling at
one another from the shrubs around our house. The fledging seems
to have coincided with the return of small passerines to my site: superb
fairy-wrens; white-browed scrubwrens and striated thornbills have all come
for a bath in the last week or so after a relatively long
absence.
However the news isn't all good. This
morning on setting off for a walk our attention was drawn to a great ruckus
in a stringybark. On getting the binos on the activity it turned out
to be a male common bronzewing defending its nest (with one egg visible from
below) from a horde of currawongs. A few hurled insults seemed to
persuade the predators to depart, although I feel it will only be a
temporary reprieve. With luck the bolshie local red wattelbirds and
noisy friarbirds will object to the 'wongs presence and drive them
off.
Normally I am relaxed about leaving nature to
take its course but on this occasion I am prepared to make an
exception. (Needless to say I withdrew sausage-feeding privileges from
the 'wongs some time ago and have recently implemented psychological warfare
against them - although they seem highly resistant to
intimidation.)
If anyone would care to replace
<blank> with an appropriate word to describe the currawong instead of
the pathetic 'pied' I'd be pleased to hear from them. None of my
alternatives would be acceptable for a family-oriented chatine.
Martin
| 