|
Yesterday evening, about 20 minutes before dark, we noticed an adult
Silvereye perching atop a two metre metal fence on our rear boundary. Every
few seconds, it dropped to the ground for about five seconds before returning to
the fence top for a moment, then dropping down again.
We investigated and found a tiny fledgling on the ground, desperately
trying to fly to the top of the fence, but it didn't seem to have sufficient
strength to get up more than a metre before it fell back. At the expense of
sounding anthropomorphic, the parent bird's concern was palpable.
So we attempted to catch the fledging, but had no success. After a minute,
I told Younger Brat we'd stop, because it seemed we were only
causing the birds extra stress. We watched as the poor little birds continued
their struggle for another 10 minutes until darkness thwarted further
observation.
We hope Flea Farm, the neighbour's Burmese cat, (her owners call her
Fluffy) didn't indulge in a baby Silvereye supper.
John K. Layton.
| 