Night-time feeding by Brown Thornbill

["Wendy" <>]

Hi Elizabeth,
I don't have thornbills in my garden but recently I was disappointed by the 
number of moths coming to my house window where I, each night, attract them 
with a light and photograph & record them (~ 255 identified Lepidoptera sp 
for my garden list, many more to ID. Somewhat larger no. than bird sp!)
I had been hearing shuffling noises in adjacent trees and eventually sprung 
the blighters at it - a pair of Red Wattle Birds were hawking moths near the 
window and taking them off the glass. They would even sit about a metre from 
me watching while I was at the window.
I have often seen these birds hawking moths in tree tops in the late evening 
glow, I had not before seen them active late at night. They had two large 
fledged, still dependent young at the time.
Wendy
Coburg (Melbourne)