So far, so good!
We’ve had Pee-Wees nesting in our yard on and off over
the last 20 years although not for several years. Several pairs have foraged in
our back yard this year – but there had been no nest building activities.
I wondered if this lack of building was due to a lack of
mud. So when gardening last Tuesday I put a couple of buckets of soil and clay on
a piece of black plastic under the tap in the back yard and made a slurry. I
top it up whenever I fill the bird bath. Nothing happened for 6 days. This morning
I noticed one P-W gathering mud, then two.
To my great delight they were flying over the house to the
large gum tree in the front yard where PWs have nested many times before. I noticed
that they were also flying into one of the neighbour’s yard. They were picking
up grass/leaves from there. I had mowed the back yard on Saturday so I raided
the composts heap and sprinkled a variety of dry grasses near the mud –
but they didn’t seem very impressed with my offering of grass.
They (one male and one female) have been shuttling from the
mud heap to the nesting site for an hour now. Still a long way to go before
they finish of course – so I’m not counting my PWs before they
hatch.
Perhaps the dry weather has caused the equivalent of a loss
of habitat (ie mud supply).
Has there been any reduction in Pee-Wee numbers during these
dry years?
Roy
