canberrabirds

Pipit's nest

To: "Canberrabirds" <>
Subject: Pipit's nest
From: "John Layton" <>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:27:07 +1000
This afternoon I was shown an Australian Pipit's nest on private property near Queanbeyan. It was ensconced beneath a small rock that jutted out from a steep, grassy slope facing east. I'd assumed pipits, being ground nesters, built a fairly rudimentary nest. Wrong again, Johnny.
 
The nest was a neatly woven, cup-shaped affair, seemingly constructed entirely from grass. It contained two eggs which, while not shiny, were nonetheless lustrous. The background colour seemed to be a dark grey, but was hard to discern because it was peppered with a tightly-packed, myriad of little dots, some about the size of large pin heads, others that of pin pricks. The dot colours ranged from light grey through dark brown. I was rapt by those eggs, they reminded me of little polished stones I've seen in lapidary displays. Seems if nature doesn't overawe you with grandeur, it wows you with tiny subtleties.
 
Retreated 30 metres from the nest and watched through our binoculars. Three minutes later, were rewarded by a pipit landing near the nest. It scuttled hither and thither for 20 seconds, bobbing its butt in archetypal pipit fashion - which, I guess, rules out the possibility it was a European Skylark - before zipping beneath its rock.
 
Hey, I'd better zip beneath my rock and shut up for a bit before I get smacked on my raucous, little pipit paws.
 
John Layton.
 
 
 
 
 
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