Undomesticated Red Wattlebird (RWB)

["martin butterfield" <>]

This afternoon I found myself sitting under a tree outside the Queanbeyan RSL Bowls Club while my Forester was getting some new rubber fitted.  On glancing up into the tree I noticed a RWB with a beakful of grubs (thus a CF record) looking down at me.  My eyes followed it around the canopy for some 5 minutes, still with the grubs in the beak.  After that time it flew to a much smaller tree, a little closer to Yass Rd, and left after about 10 seconds.  On inspecting the smaller tree I found the nest with 2 nestlings in it about 2m off the ground.  So the record is 'elevated' to NY.

A further RWB story came from a running companion who was complaining about an injured shoulder.  Apparently he had been riding his bike when a bird - his description fitted RWB quite well - swooped him 8 times.  In one of these attacks he shrugged shoulde to deter the bird and tore something inside.  Running and cycling are still OK but golf is painful!

Martin