At East O’Malley, the Willie Wagtail
behaviour was friendly compared to the aggression of the Dusky Woodswallows,
several pairs of which were nesting in the area The female adult LE
would huddle on the nest, flucking (a combination of flinching and ducking) at
each close swoop of a dws. The idea that the eagle could have caught the
flashing woodswallow seems absurd. I shall try to get out some sequences
of this behaviour but I think it might have been a bit fast, even for 25
fps. Meanwhile here is a still. The dws can just be discerned at
the top of the frame. The adult LE has buried its head, but the chick has
not got the idea. Coincidentally, both the adult LE and chick closed nictitating
membranes which appear as milky spots.
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006
9:31 AM
To:
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds]
Little Eagle harassment (2)
The East O’Malley (female) Little
Eagle being harassed near its nest by a Willie Wagtail. The WW retained
its nesting territory for another year. The eagle did not. Survival
of the best-adapted.
From: Philip Veerman
[
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006
4:58 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Little Eagle
harassment
