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In reply to Tony Russell's comments, I thought I would let
people know what birds have been visiting my bird bath in suburban Brisbane
since I returned home at the end of last year.
The first visitors each day before breakfast are usually a
Torresian Crow and/or a Pied Currawong. They have a fairly quick dip
before disappearing. Then at about 7:45 am a family of Magpies come
in. There used to be 5 but the numbers have dwindled during the last
couple of weeks. (At one stage I had 10 together in my garden). They
really enjoy their bath fully immersing themselves by squatting right down and
splashing vigorously before hopping up on to the fence and yodelling
and then flying off to a nearby Poinciana Tree. They seem to take it in
turns with the adult male coming in first followed by the female and the 3
cheeky younger birds. They often return for a second bath after about 5
minutes of preening. They are obviously being feed by someone in the area
as they are very tame and I even had one young bird walk into my lounge room
from the patio.
Then about 8:30 the Noisy Miners arrive up to 5 or 6 at a
time. They make a song and dance of it calling in their friends and
chattering away whilst dipping in and out quickly. They may also come back
for a second dip after sitting on the fence and preening. Occasionally I see the Grey Butcherbird who has a few quick dips
and then flies off and a Spotted Turtle-dove who tries to pretend its not really
there and bathes quickly and quietly.
Unfortunately we do not have any small birds here now as the
Body Corporate in their wisdom decided to cut down all the shrubs around my unit
while I was away. So the big guys reign!
Just as well I'm retired now so that I can watch the bath more
closely and appreciate the various techniques used by different species. I
find this the most interesting aspect.
Regards
Jan England
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