Yes I have had exactly the same at home in
Canberra, when I had them breeding in my garden. About a year ago there were
many reports on B-A about exactly this. They are fighting with their
reflections. It obviously doesn't take them long to find that their are two
mirrors on a car. Whether they do that by random discovery or recognise that a
car, like most biological objects, is bilaterally symetrical, so if there is
another bird like themself on one side then there ought to be one on the
opposite side too, now that is a fun question for an ethologist to look
at.
-----Original Message----- From:
david taylor <> To:
<> Date:
Wednesday, 23 May 2001 23:43 Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] Intersting
Wren behaviour
I was absolutely fascinated with the
behaviour of a young male Superb Fairy Wren at my home in suburban
Brisbane last Saturday. As I was standing in the driveway the bird flew
down to my car, perched on the side passenger mirror and proceded to
"rotate'' around the back of it - almost like it was sliding down
the back! It then would come back to the top, pause a moment and do it
again. This was interesting enough, but when it quickly and
deliberately moved across the car to the driver mirror and repeated the
procedure about three times I was amazed! Then it again went back to the
other side and repeated the exercise. I wondered whether there may be
some insects on the car, but as soon as the bird flew off I checked and
there was no sign of anything. There seemed no clear reason why the
bird would do this for about three minutes. If I didnt know better the
bird appeared to be just enjoying a game!!? Do birds have fun? Do
birds know cars have mirrors on both sides? This one certainly looked
like it was something he had done before! These gorgeous little birds
are resident in my garden and give me much pleasure, but this behaviour
topped the lot! Do birds have fun?
Good
birding
David
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