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Hi Graham,
I was interested to read about your young Brown Honeyeaters.
My sister lives in Kalgoorlie in W.A and
has recently enjoyed watching a pair of Brown Honeyeaters building a nest in a
hanging basket under her verandah. My sister tip toed around them and took the
globe out of the socket so as not to disturb them after dark. They seemed very
trusting and tolerated the presence of humans and the family dog.
Imagine her horror when from under her very nose
a Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike swooped down and took one chick and left another on
the floor of the verandah. The surviving chick was placed back in the nest under
the watchful eye of the Cuckoo-Shrike. My sister stood guard over the remaining
chick but had to eventually go inside and the Cuckoo Shrike was quick off the
mark to seize the hapless chick despite aggressive protests from every Brown
Honeyeater in the garden. Needless to say the Cuckoo- Shrike is not flavour of
the month in one garden in Kalgoorlie.
The pair were seen a few days later collecting
cobwebs for another nesting attempt, they have given the verandah away, lets
hope this time they are
successful!!
Bett Mitchell.
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