It seems my assumption that I
was watching a male bird was ill founded. Many thanks to Chris Davey who
has given me other clues to identifying the male brown treecreeper. Chris
said,
“
The male has a couple of blackish feathers below the throat which the female
does not. Very difficult to tell if the bird is not in the hand although
in my view somewhat easier to tell during the spring than at other times.
It may be easier for you with a powerful camera lens but under normal
conditions I find it very difficult, if not impossible. I know this
because I have a group that I am studying and they have all been sexed in the
hand and colour banded. The young can be told quite easily because they
have fawn-coloured flanks.”
The best thing about this chat line is the information that comes
out for those of us who are still learners.
From: Margaret Leggoe
[
Sent: Friday, 17 July 2009 5:28 PM
To:
Subject: Brown tree creeper - nesting
This morning at Newline I observed a male brown treecreeper
entering and leaving a hollow tree trunk. I watched him for more than an
hour, and he always remained within 30 metres of the “nest”,
feeding only on the ground. He entered and left the nest several times in
this period. He was not carrying nesting material, nor was the female
seen. Can one assume the female is sitting on eggs in the nest?
Margaret Leggoe
