birding-aus

Nest destroying Friarbirds

To: "birding-aus" <>
Subject: Nest destroying Friarbirds
From: "Alan Gillanders" <>
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 17:10:04 +1000
Greetings,
I have witnessed Aus. Magpies destroying the nest of other birds and small passerines robbing nesting material but nothing like I witnessed today.

This morning while cleaning the leaves out of the gutter I was aware that the presence of two Kookaburras and a Pied Butcherbird was being resented by the nesting Magpie Larks and Willy Wagtails. The new boys on the block, the Noisy Friarbirds were also taking exception to the former. On one occasion a Friarbird grabbed the tail of a flying Kookaburra and held on. Both birds were flying but as they passed less than four metres away and only a little below eye level I am confident that the Kookaburra was dragging his tormentor along.

Still more remarkable things unfolded after the Kookaburra and Butcherbird were driven off.

The group of four Friarbirds remaining began to examine the nests of the Willy and Magpie Lark. One of the birds sat in the Willy's three-quarters made nest and made a soft almost musical chattering call to the bird closest to it. This bird approach and made the usual friarbird racket. One of the birds investigated first the mud nest then the Willy's. For a while some of the birds were sticking their heads into the nest but I could not discern what they were doing. A few times each nest was sat in. Often this was accompanied by the soft pleasant call. As there was considerable movement I was not able to keep track of individual birds but think that no more than the original four were involved in frequent comings and goings.

One bird was then seen to remove something smaller than 3mm from inside the mud nest and appeared to swallow it. The same bird pulled a plant fibre from the nest and flicked it around before dropping it. It then took another piece and flew with it to the Willy's nest where it placed it but without care or delicacy into the nest and sat in the nest.

At this stage a second Friarbird took to pulling pieces out of the mud nest in a deliberate manner, one thread at a time. Not at all like the ravages that Magpies wreak. At least three birds joined in this behaviour at some stage. Both nests were being slowly dismantled from the inside and their owners were absent the whole time.

One friarbird twice pulled material from the outside of the mud nest but again only one fibre at a time. A second bird then pulled on the rim of the Willy's nest after sitting in it for some time first. This distorted the shape of the nest considerably and opened a small tear in the side. By now the others had left and when one of the Willies returned in high chagrin, it too moved off to feed elsewhere in the garden.

The Willy appeared to be effecting repairs and at lunch time I observed a bird on the veranda gathering spiderwebs. This afternoon the Willy's nest looks to be in a worse state.

Does anyone else have records or memories of seeing such behaviour?

Regards,
Alan Gillanders

Alan's Wildlife Tours
2 Mather Road
Yungaburra 4884
www.alanswildlifetours.com.au
Phone 07 4095 3784
Int. + 61 7 4095 3784

Alan's Wildlife Tours FREE enewsletter
http://users.qldnet.com.au/~spotlighting/enewsletter.doc
--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
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