Yes. The Mb (f) is
carrying a piece of stuff. This sort of thing is said to be used to
decorate the nest. HANZAB says ‘coated or decorated outside …with castings
and remains of insect larvae’. There is a point or two to be made here.
The beginning of the nest in question was mainly a collection of wool
bound with spider web, with the cavity not yet excavated. The material
collected already includes many items including insect remains, all
presumably gathered up with the silk. The main item is clumps of a kind of
granular substance that I have seen in webs. There is a question what it
is. It does not appear to be ‘remains’. I am not sure what
‘castings’ are, although I know about ‘worm castings’. (You will get
something quite different if you Google ‘Caterpillar castings’.) I do not think
captured flying insects would be leaving excrement in a spider web.
There is a study (below) that indicates that some spiders gather ‘prey
remains’ that look a bit like the granular substance. I wonder if the
substance is spider excrement. Why mistletoe birds would want to gather it
for a nest is another matter.
The male Mb is said not to be a
usual participant in the nest building. That does not exclude offering of
services in a supervisory capacity, of course.
From: Mark
Clayton [
Sent: Tuesday, 7 October 2014
10:42 AM
To: 'Geoffrey Dabb';
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Also
seen at C Park yesterday
Mistletoebird nest building
(female that is). I meant to also reply with the Shining Bronze-Cuckoo photo but
with 70+ emails to go through after the long weekend I
forgot.
Mark
From: Geoffrey
Dabb
Sent: Tuesday, 7 October 2014 9:44 AM
To:
Subject:
FW: [canberrabirds] Also seen at C Park
yesterday
An astute piece of jumping in,
John, and quite correct. I tend to forget the tradition of the WOTSIT
might not be appreciated by our younger members. It began in pre-digital
days when Mark Clayton used to collect cryptic images, such as a dark shape
disappearing into the sky at dusk, to administer in the occasional Bird
Quiz. With digital photography ‘collecting’ became unnecessary as the
clearest image can be cropped or otherwise processed to produce a totally
baffling product. Therefore WOTSITS must be used with extreme care,
and be, like clues in the best cryptic crosswords, FAIR (however
difficult). If possible, a WOTSIT should match something in a person’s
visual experience, even if not at once recognisable. There was a little
story attached to the SBC. Its call, yesterday morning, was from near at
hand, but the bird was invisible until located directly overhead at the top of a
euc where its size and shape from below matched the dark leaves surrounding
it. When calling these small cuckoos are often like
that
As there is not much appetite
these days for the formal chatline quiz, with these occasional WOTSITS you can
tell me what you think it is, if you like, or just keep the answer to
yourself. A couple of others got it, including a well-known member at his
Darwin outpost.
Now, not all that cryptic, but
something else that was going on yesterday, if you know what it is
…
From: John
Harris
Sent: Monday, 6 October 2014 7:22 PM
To: Geoffrey
Dabb
Cc: chatline
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Also seen at
C Park yesterday
Only just
realised this is a question. Well someone has to jump in. A Shining Bronze
Cuckoo for my money.
Some on
Percival Hill at the moment.
From: Geoffrey Dabb <>
Date:
Monday, 6 October 2014 12:32 pm
To: chatline <>
Subject:
[canberrabirds] Also seen at C Park yesterday
