I've been up to the Pinnacle
area behind Hawker a couple of times since the big hailstorm to assess
the damage. The southern slopes seem to have copped a the worst of it,
judging by the ankle-deep leaf litter under the larger old trees. The
dam in the southeast corner that was about a quarter full is now full
to the brim. The day after the storm there were lots of birds around,
though the number of Grey Fantails seems to have dropped markedly. (Is
there any reason why GFs should be hit harder by hail?)
Robins are starting to appear - Scarlets only so far. Also Rufous and
Golden Whistlers, lots of Spotted Pardalotes and Yellow- and
Buff-rumped Thornbills, and the Dusky Woodswallows seem to have moved
on. I found the half-eaten remains of what was probably a Collared
Sparrowhawk, though it hard to be sure with only the wings, tail and
legs to go on. Other recent highlights were a Tawny Frogmouth and a
Hobby.
Also, I've observed a couple of off bird behaviours in the last couple
of months. The first is apparent food sharing between a pair of young
Kookaburras. The two were sitting in a tree making begging noises (one
of the adults was sitting in another tree about 30 meters away) and one
of them had a large insect in its beak. It appeared to offer the insect
to its sibling, who looked at it and apparently decided against it
(perhaps it wasn't dead enough?). A minute or so later, the insect was
offered again, and this time the other sibling happily gobbled it down.
Now I've never seen young birds operate on anything other than a
"first-in best-dressed" basis when it comes to food, so I was struck by
this behaviour. Is this normal among L. Kookaburras?
The other odd behaviour was a young A Magpie lying on its side in a
patch of dirt, happily pecking away at a tuft of grass it was holding
in one foot. Again, I've never seen a Magpie (or any bird for that
matter) lie down on its side - legs in the air - for any reason. How
common is this?
John Brannan
--
36 Challinor Cres., Florey, Canberra ACT 2615, Australia
Ph.: (+612) 6258 6038 Fax: (+612) 6258 6238
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