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Hi all,
On Monday, before meeting up with a friend of mine
who came down from Sydney (David Stowe), I was wandering about Callum Brae in
the morning and was drawn to the calls of two species in particular, both
mimicing: Grey Currawong and Olive-backed Oriole.
A quick look through HANZAB indicates that mimicry
in Olive-backed Oriole is well established knowledge, though I had not heard
them do it before. Just out of interest, the birds that this particular Oriole
was mimicing included Eastern Rosella, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Currawong, Red
Wattlebird, Red-rumped Parrot, Noisy Miner, Dusky Woodswallow, possibly
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo.
An equally quick look through HANZAB under the Grey
Currawong entry, however, did not turn up anything on mimicry. The Grey
Currawong that I was listening to was mimicing only Pied Currawong (two
calls--the common territorial (?) call and the softer, drawn-out descending
whistle). It was not a bad mimic, but not great. Interestingly enough, it
attracted a reasonably sized flock of Pied Currawongs who clustered hung around,
calling. One even took to half-heartedly attacking the Grey Currawong on a
number of occasions.
Just my two cents worth for the week. Also, if
anyone isn't sick of Painted Snipe images yet, just about the only decent photo
I managed to get from Monday at the Wetlands is up on my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/callocephalon/6210219415/in/photostream.
It wasn't for lack of closeness either--heat haze ruined most of my photos,
weird though it may sound.
Cheers
Tobias
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