birding-aus

Scarlet Robin Behaviour

To: birding aus <>
Subject: Scarlet Robin Behaviour
From: Russell Woodford <>
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 22:52:38 +1000
Hi all

Sorry if anyone has been trying to get in touch with me  - I've been
away at a school camp for a couple of days.  It was a music camp but
the kids kept calling it "Band Camp" followed by a grin and a knowing
look ...  you've got to have seen the movie (American Pie)!

Anyway, just thought I'd pass on an interesting observation.

I watched a male Scarlet Robin having a great time with its reflection today. I know this sort of behaviour is well documented for many
species, but I can't remember seeing any of the Petroica robins doing
it before - probably because I'm used to seeing them in the bush and
not around a house.  Anyway, this little fellow was spending a lot of
time checking out the reflection in a large window, and tried attacking it for a few flurries every couple of minutes. The bird kept returning to the same branch and the same window for at least 20 minutes - not sure what happened after that. There was a female around but she only came near the window once, and showed no interest in the "2nd" male.

It was quite magical watching all this from the side (another window,
less reflective at this time of day) and about 1 meter away.

By the way, I'd been for a very brisk 45-minute walk just around dawn, hoping to see some of the local birdlife (just outside Daylesford, Vic) before our students got moving for the day. I didn't see much until I
got back to the camp and looked out over the big backyard - I needn't
have gone anywhere else!  Surely there's a name for this "law" (other
than Murphy's) where you try to find birds the hard way, and they're
back at home waiting for you.       I recall a few people telling of
full-day bashes around in thick scrub looking for elusive species that turn up on the car bonnet at the end of the day. So who's law is
this???  It's got to have a name....




Russell Woodford
Birding-Aus List Owner

http://www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/
Geelong   Victoria   Australia
38º 04' 09" S    144º 23' 53" E

This email and any attachments may be confidential and if you are not
the intended recipient, you must not disclose or use the information in this email. If received in error, please notify us immediately and
delete the email and all copies. The College does not guarantee that
this email is virus or error free. The attached files are provided, and may only be used, on the basis that the user assumes all responsibility for any loss, damage or consequence resulting directly from the use of the attached files, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or
not. The content and opinions in this email are not necessarily those
of the College.

Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU