Great to see so much info coming in on my favorite bird.
I very often hear Shrike-tits, and sometimes see them, close to home in
the riverine woodlands of Wilson Reserve, Ivanhoe, Vic, beside the
Yarra, where we have mature River Red Gums of considerable size, mostly
post 1945 but many much older, over understorey of Tree Violet, Coprosma
quadrifida, Silver Wattle, Callistemon sieberi, plus hawthorn,
blackberry and far too much Tradescantia.
My impression is that they move round a wide area of suitable
habitat. Often they can be heard from across the Yarra on the Kew and
Greenacres golfcourses.
They used to visit my garden till a neighbour cut down a huge and
ancient River Red Gum. They came to our wattles and younger gums and
attacked leaf and bud galls, often holding them in a foot on the branch
while pecking at them. They often come down into understorey shrubs,
particularly wattles, for caterpillars. I have seen them peck open
wattle stems to reach boring larvae.
Don't forget that they are a bird which has been seen to use a tool -
the late Beryl Richards reported seeing one break a twig and use it to
extract something from a hole or crevice in a tree - this was reported
several years ago in 'Australian Bird Watcher'.
The powerful notched beak was described by John Gould - who was also
well and truly bitten by it. He mentions them tearing rotten wood and
thin scaly bark. "The large branches of trees are their usual resort"
and "thick brushes (ie rainforest) as well as the trees of the open
plains."
The beak is narrow from side to side and is often inserted under quite
thick bark and then used to lever the bark off - the claw-hammer curve
enables the bird to roll its beak over as it pulls with sustained
effort.
They were the first bird I recognized all by myself from memories of
the plates What Bird is That? and a diorama in the old Museum of
Victoria. They deserve a lot more attention to their behaviour and
movements. Maybe some day I'll find a nest.
Anthea Fleming in melbourne
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