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
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