During a visit to Currumbin Sanctuary (Gold Coast, Queensland) yesterday two
very inquisitive captive brown honeyeaters were behaving somewhat unusually.
The birds landed on the cage front or perches at a very close distance to
my face. Initially I thought this may have been due to socialisation or
hand-rearing but then I remembered from postings to birding-aus that wild
honeyeaters have been known to use fresh human hair as nest material. When I
mentioned this, my companion thought that I was fibbing. So I placed my head
against the wire (I was told how stupid this appeared) and sure enough both
birds tugged out some hair which they carried back to the rear of the cages
where I presume nest construction was under way.
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Dr Shane Raidal BVSc PhD MACVSc (Avian Health)
Lecturer in Veterinary Pathology
School of Veterinary Studies
Murdoch University phone: +61 9 360 2418
Perth,WA, 6150 fax: +61 9 310 4144
Australia
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