canberrabirds

Shepherds Lookout area 21 October

To: "Canberra Birds" <>
Subject: Shepherds Lookout area 21 October
From: "John Layton" <>
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:29:43 +1000
0800 hours today we arrived at Shepherds Lookout and walked upstream for 30 minutes, here's the highlights:
 
1 Restless Flycatcher, 2 Sacred Kingfishers, 10 Double-barred Finches. 2 male & 1 female Superb Parrot feeding on flowering Sweetbriar. 5 Varied Sittellas formucating (be careful how we pronounce that) down a Cypress Pine. 1 Black-fronted Dotterel, 2 Grey Currawongs, 2 Dollar Birds making forays from a dead tree. 3 male Rufous Whistlers, 1 Whistling Kite, 1 Nankeen Kestrel.
 
Pair of Red Wattlebirds cavorting vocally in scrub. Suddenly one bird burst forth pursued by the other. The first bird went into a glide as the second bird closed on it and clamped its bill on the tip of the leader's tail and, thus attached, they glided into another patch of scrub. More calling ensued before the pair appeared again, and repeated the previous maneuver. Courting shenanigans, we assumed. HANZAB confirms this is common courting behaviour for Red Wattlebirds, nonetheless, it's new to us.
 
Botanical Brat found Dodder or Devil's Twine Cassytha pubescens flowering and fruiting among tea tree. Botanical Brat switches roles to Bush Tucker Brat and announces that the Aborigine people liked to eat the dodder berries as she put a few pale, nascent fruit in her busy little mouth. A moment later she's expectorating furiously. Memo to tyro hunters and gatherers: Do not partake unripe fruit of the Devil's Twine vine.
 
John Layton
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