The Willie Wagtail

[Martin Butterfield via Canberrabirds <>]

you quote the question "‘Who does not .. admire the ,,, Willie Wagtail),"  One case I am aware of is a participant in a challenge to find a new species each day.  They are based in Melbourne but their run ended one year when they couldn't find a Willie Wagtail!

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

https://mallacootaweatherwildlife.blogspot.com/

On Sun, 21 Jul 2024 at 13:08, Geoffrey Dabb via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

A few days ago on ABC Radio National a reptile paleontologist discussing remote places in inland Australia, and birds found there, mentioned in particular coming across the Willie Wagtail. This friendly species can be met with in surprising places, one of those species where ‘if it’s there you will see (or hear) it’.  It is a common resident at many outstations in New Guinea. The Saem/Bulmer book about birds and the remote Kalam people has stories about the species in their folklore. There are other stories in Aboriginal lore, sometimes linked to an approaching death. Its resident range extends up through what used to be called the Moluccas and down through the Solomons, but its spread seems to respect a wide-sea barrier as it is not recorded in Timor, New Caledonia or New Zealand, according to eBird.

 

Writing in his 1911 “An Australian Bird Book’,  Dr Leach compressed much information about the species into a single question: ‘Who does not know and admire the plucky, though fussy Black and White Fantail (Willie Wagtail), as it drives a cat or dog away from the vicinity of its nest, or as it waits impatiently about the mouth of a grazing cow or horse, or as it expresses its opinion of itself in the melodious “sweet pretty creature”, heard even late on moonlight nights?’

 

 

 

 

 

--
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra Ornithologists Group.
Emails posted to the list that exceed 2 MB (2,000 kB) in size, including attachments, will be rejected.
All emails distributed via the list are archived at http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds. It is a condition of list membership that you agree to your contributions being archived.

Canberrabirds mailing list

https://lists.canberrabirds.org.au/mailman/listinfo/canberrabirds

ATT00001.txt
Description: ATT00001.txt