bedlam (briefly) at Hawker ovals

[Alberta Hayes <>]

Hi everyone,

Being one of the younger generation of bird watcher I sometimes see some similarities between the 'gaudy' males in both birds and humans.

Take Mooseheads as an example. The longer the rats tail or the more 'peacocked' you are, the more likely you are to get a bevy of ladies watching you wherever you go. Of course, these males are more likely to breed (unintentionally) although I don't think it furthers us as a species...

Alberta.

On 21 July 2012 19:54, Chris Davey <> wrote:

Barbara, I hope I have read all the emails on this issue and cannot read of any mention of smell. Is it not simply a matter of smell?  It is well known that birds can smell and foxes smell very different to dogs.

 

Chris

 

From: Barbara Allan [

Sent: Friday, 20 July 2012 11:15 AM
To:

Subject: [canberrabirds] bedlam (briefly) at Hawker ovals

 

After the worst of the frost the corgi and I headed out on one of our regular beats around Hawker ovals. We enjoyed a few somewhat unusual sightings for the area, namely a pair of Scarlet Robins and a male Golden Whistler, saw a magpie putting the finishing touches to its nest, enjoyed watching the “regulars” and socialising with other dogs and dog-walkers. Then all hell broke loose. A fox swaggered its way up the path and was set upon by a posse of magpies, currawongs and miners. Encouraged by the bedlam, one of the dogs gave chase. The fox was last seen beating a decidedly rapid retreat up Delamere St. The thing that particularly interested me in this episode was the birds’ ability to differentiate between a fox and the domestic dogs, who were quite ignored by the angry mob. b