Mick, Carol,
Several years ago there was a photo on Bird Forum of a Brown-headed
Honeyeater harvesting fur from the rump of a dozy Koala .
See
http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=69009
http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=69007
Chris Charles
0412 911 184
33deg 47'30"S
151deg10'09"E
On 25/10/2007, at 5:12 PM, Carol Probets wrote:
Mick,
A few years ago when Brown Thornbills were building a nest in my
garden, I happened to visit someone with a Persian cat and brought
home a bag of its fur, which had been saved by the owner from its
brushing sessions. I wedged the fur in a tree branch outside my
window to see if the thornbills would be interested. Well, the next
time the birds passed by, the female did a double take - her
excitement was obvious. She immediately got to work gathering as
much of it as possible in her bill, until she looked like she had a
huge grey moustache! For the rest of the afternoon and the next
day, she continued to carry beakfuls of the fur into the nest
(sometimes trying to carry more than she could handle and would
drop some or get it snagged on bushes... but she always
meticulously collected it later).
I assume it was the female as this was the bird who did all the
building (and later, incubating) while the other bird followed
closely guarding her.
That particular nest was later predated by a currawong, but the
following month the thornbills were back at the wrecked nest,
taking out the fur lining and carrying it off down the hill to
where they were obviously building another.
A valuable commodity indeed!
Cheers,
Carol
Carol Probets
Katoomba
Blue Mountains NSW
At 12:33 PM +1100 25/10/07, Michael Todd wrote:
Hello all,
The Brown Thornbill nest that I had been watching under my kitchen
window (in Ranelagh, Tasmania) successfully fledged thornbillets
(theres a good word) a few weeks ago. About a week ago i rescued a
juvenile thornbill, that had taken a wrong turn and entered my
house. It was probably from the same nest.
Yesterday, I watched Brown Thornbills pulling old material from
the old nest which had become dislodged from the bush that it was
in by wind. The nest was on the ground in the paddock. I had a
closer look at the nest and found that it was thickly lined with
the beautiful soft coppery red fur of the Tasmanian Brushtail
Possum. That nest must have been warm. I imagine that the
thornbills must have got this fur off a roadkill possum. This in
itself is interesting as the nearest road where a possum could be
killed would be a kilometre away across open paddock. I drive on
that road most days and I can't remember seeing a dead brushy on
it (plenty elsewhere mind you).
The fur must be a valuable commodity though as it is being re-used!
Cheers
Mick Todd
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