Attacking birds

[Lawrie Conole <>]

This thread has probably gone on for long enough, but ....

On the Twitchathon weekend in Victoria, I had my hair parted by a very
stroppy Red Wattlebird.  I've heard of them dive-bombing people before,
but this was the first time I'd been a eyewitness.  It dragged its claws
across the top of my head, and hit quite hard.  We were at a picnic table
at the time, and it seemed torn between its duty to cave in my skull, and
the opportunity to share our morning tea.  Its attempts to get food were
rather aggressive.  Clearly this bird was accustomed to handouts, but the
conflict between nest defence and foraging seemed too hard for it to
reconcile, so it did both.

Lawrie Conole
Geelong, Victoria, Australia