canberrabirds

The joys of cable ties.......

To: "'Charmian Lawson'" <>, "'COG'" <>
Subject: The joys of cable ties.......
From: "Philip Veerman" <>
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:17:25 +1100
Charmain,
 
Interesting ideas. If I can offer a link...... I suggest the relevance of a cuckoo about, and if there is any connection at all, is that it would a baby cuckoo in the nest (which maybe you can't see into) to have turfed out the Magpie-lark chicks. Parasitic cuckoos do this. If so it would be most likely a Koel chick. There is no particular reason why you would have seen an adult cuckoo around some weeks earlier laying in the nest. I am not saying it is. It is just something that links the possibilities. Just as likely (or more likely) due to not skilled parents or a predator that took the chicks and got disturbed in the process........ 
 
Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah  ACT  2902
 
02 - 62314041
-----Original Message-----
From: Charmian Lawson [
Sent: Friday, 27 November 2009 12:35 PM
To: COG
Subject: [canberrabirds] The joys of cable ties.......

Hi there
 
A while ago I emailed about the failure of the rubber red bellied black snake to keep the peewits (mudlarks) off my rear vision mirror. The peewits make an awful mess of the car in a very short time, and I get sick of cleaning it off.
 
So the other day I thought I would try the cable ties used by cyclists on their helmets, to deter swooping magpies.
 
Well, they work. They are easily tightened round the mirror with bits sticking up, can just be slipped off the mirror before I drive off, and they don't hurt the birds. Success!!
 
On a sad note, this morning I found two little dead chicks below the peewit nest in the gum tree in the front yard. An adult seems to be still on the nest. The chicks are very small (one much smaller than the other). Can anybody suggest what might have happened to the poor little things? Tony wondered if there is a cuckoo about but I haven't seen one. I have seen a noisy friar bird in the tree not far from the nest but I don't suppose it has had anything to do with their deaths?
 
These peewits really don't have such a lot of failures - it's sad.
 
Charmian Lawson
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