We’ve had some bloody hot days of late (35 - 40c). My bird bath at this
stage looks to be a “White Elephant” (7 weeks and still no visitors).
Well, you know that old saying “you can lead a bird to
water”
If they wouldn’t enjoy the bird bath they might enjoy a hand
spray.
Well, as turns out, some do (Brave Baby) & some don’t (Bashful) & then there
is Bitey. |
| Loving it |
 |
| hating it |
 |
| hating it 2 |
 |
| and then there's Bitey |
Here is a video of how the 3 liked the experience.
An Australian Darter landed in the tree behind my place.
Well you should have seen the reaction, and it was immediate. Birds appeared
from everywhere to harass it.
What surprised me was who the protagonists were. Not birds I
would’ve thought of coming into conflict with a Darter.
They were; 7 Noisy Miners, 2 Indian Mynas, 2 Peewees,
Lorries, 1 Willie Wagtail, 1 Dove, 1 wattle bird.
And a Kooka pissed off with all the commotion.
A Darter is a water bird. It swims & dives down after
fish. They don’t have waterproof feathers (this allows them to swim
underwater), so they need to get out & dry off. These are the birds you see
with their wings outstretched, drying themselves off.
The way the others reacted, this was a definite threat.
He got more treatment than the low flying Sea Eagles get.
He isn’t a threat to the adult birds as they are too big to
swallow (except for maybe a Willie), so I guess he’s a chick eater.
I know the Willie
Wagtails nest in the mangroves & possibly the others. A Darter has webbed feet,
so not really suitable for climbing thru mangrove branches. So I suspect he
grabs chicks that fall out of nests.
 |
| its not the size of the dog in the fight...Willie in action |
 |
| next in were the Peewees |
 |
| L-R: Indian Myna, Noisy Miner, |
The Kooka chicks must have hatched by now (I can't wait till they're presented).The girls do seem to be the poorer carers.
I've been cutting the meat in shorter strips more suitable for little chicks and feeding this to the crew.
They all seem to feed on the smaller cuts, with the boys flying off with some of the longer strips.
I'm not sure if they're feeding the sitter or the chicks, but, the strips they fly off with are about 3cm x 1/2cm. Mouthful for a bub.
Mum (Bashful) turned up after the storms looking wet & miserable, so I decided to send her home with a full belly and enough for the bubs.
Well, she ate the lot. Her last piece was a big strip. She sat there with it in her beak for a few minutes until there was enough room in her tummy to swallow it. The bubs got none.
Anyway that's all for this week.
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