New Holland Honeyeaters breeding
One of my readers left the following comments and question on a post from last year about New Holland Honeyeaters:
We’ve been watching a pair of New Holland Honeyeaters building their nest in an ornamental tree in our courtyard in Kensington (SA). Really been lovely to watch them.
Do they stay together as mates?
That is a very good question Tony. It is one I hadn’t given all that much thought to, so I had to do my research.
Leave them in peace:
It is indeed a great delight to watch birds nesting and as they go about feeding the young. The urge to breed is very strong and they will tolerate people going about their daily lives only metres away. If you have birds nesting in your garden, try not to disturb them too much.
Breeding behaviour:
The pair that have mated and built the nest will generally feed the young together. In some bird species only the female sits on the eggs and feeds the young while the male defends the territory (for example, Australian Magpies). In other species the whole thing is a cooperative affair. With the Australian Fairy-wrens for example, the whole extended family will build the nest and feed the young.
Monogamous pairs:
As far as New Holland Honeyeaters are concerned they tend to breed in monogamous pairs; they stay together as mates for the entire breeding cycle. They will often breed several times in a season. If still alive the next breeding season they will also bond together again as a pair.
Again, my thanks to Tony for a great question.
Further reading:
- Great Birding Moments: New Holland Honeyeater
- Great Birding Moments – more good reading.
New Holland Honeyeater
Mistletoebirds
1 Comment »27th August, 2007; Category: Garden birds
During most days I am quite aware of the birds in our garden and around our five-acre property. From my office where I spend most of my day writing I can hear the birds calling. Most days I usually spend some time outside working in the garden or the shed and on those occasions I get to see the birds as well.
Mistletoebird
One species that is a delightful occasional visitor to our garden is the beautiful Mistletoebird. Over recent weeks I have been hearing this species calling on many occasions, sometimes several times a day. They are elusive little birds however, and I haven’t managed a recent photo of either the male or the female.
Further reading:
A bounty of birds in the garden plus one reptile
The bird life in our garden seems to have moved up a few notches in the activity levels in recent days. With the extended period of dry, warmer weather – more spring-like than winter despite what the calendar says – birds are becoming quite active. I haven’t taken the time to explore through all the trees and bushes around to see what is nesting, but I am sure that there is plenty of it happening already around here, and plenty more to come.
On top of that we are having visits from a few species we only see occasionally. For example, yesterday morning when we arrived home from visiting friends, we were delighted as we walked from the car to the house. A Peaceful Dove was calling in the trees by the driveway. This species is not resident in our garden but is a very welcome visitor from time to time.
Peaceful Dove, Cleland Wildlife Park
Next we heard some White-browed Babblers calling from the scrub along with a Mistletoebird calling persistently in the trees.
A solitary Nankeen Kestrel flew overhead and both Yellow-rumped and Striated Pardalotes were heard calling as they fed in the trees. A few minutes later two Pacific Black Ducks flew off startled from the swimming pool (it is still too early to clean Le Swamp). At the back of the house two Blackbirds were feeding in the company of several Crested Pigeons and Common Starlings.
Crested Pigeon
A surprising visitor yesterday was an Adelaide Rosella. These are more common in the Adelaide Hills further west from Murray Bridge. A small group of up to four birds has been seen over recent weeks. Later I heard several Weebills feeding in the trees along with a small family of Yellow-rumped Thornbills.
And the reptile?
The most surprising sighting of the last 48 hours was a half grown Brown Snake sunning itself in the driveway. It was probably about 75cm long and still had the features and markings of a juvenile. I guess it is coming into its second summer this year.
Normally we do not see too many snakes around our property even in the heat of summer, and those we do see we always give them a wide berth. I am not keen on chasing after even a small one like that seen yesterday; it can still turn on one and inflict a deadly bite. What amazed me was the fact that it is August – still winter according to our calendar. In December through February we always walk cautiously around the garden and scrub. I guess we should always be vigilant.
The problem with Common Blackbirds
One of my readers posed this perplexing problem with Common Blackbirds:
Helppppp!!We have a Huggggggge problem with Blackbirds in our garden, flicking our mulch all over the place, it’s driving us crazy, do you know where we could get one of those electronic things to scare them off, or anything else that would work in getting rid of them??
Regards
Mary.
This is a common problem in many gardens.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, there is no simple, easy solution. Most gardeners tolerate this behaviour because they love to hear the beautiful song of the Blackbird during the breeding season.
Electronic device:
Mary asks about an electronic device to scare them away. I do not know of any but I suggest asking at the local hardware stores and garden centres. A long search of the internet turned up one very expensive (about $50US) device in a store in Kansas. The downside of this device is that it does not discriminate; it scares ALL birds, including the native birds that keep the natural balance of nature in the garden. Without the native birds eating the insects like mosquitoes, flies, beetles, centipedes, spiders and so on, our gardens would become an ecological disaster area. It would be a far greater problem than the nuisance caused by the Blackbirds.
Other alternatives:
Here we need to get a little creative. I’m not sure whether any of these ideas will work because I haven’t tried them. Some may even look a little ugly.
- Get rid of the mulch – with water restrictions this may not be desirable or possible.
- Replace the bark mulch with gravel or pebbles too heavy for the birds to move – an expensive solution.
- Build 20cm high walls along the edges of the garden so that the Blackbirds do not flick the mulch on to the path. These could be made of stone, brick, pavers, wooden sleepers, pine posts on their edges and so on. Be creative.
- Cover the mulch with chicken wire, shade-cloth or weed mat. Probably not a good look.
- Turn around your attitude and learn to love the birds; after all, they are just looking for lunch.
I guess these suggestions may not please Mary and may just add to her frustrations. Sorry, Mary.
Reader questions:
Over to my readers:
- Do you have any suggestions for Mary? (Please be nice – offensive comments will not be published).
- How have you solved this dilemma in your garden?
- Reply in the comments section below. Update: comments are now closed for this post because, sadly, some people cannot help being abusive.
Common Blackbird (male)
UPDATE: I also posed this question to subscribers of the Birding-Aus forum. Many of their comments are recorded in the comments section below. I love the one about leaving plastic snakes lying around!
I think I heard a little bird
I meant to write about this yesterday but I was away all day.
Early Sunday morning when I was still a little drowsy and very cosy in a warm bed I thought I heard a Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo in the garden. I was still too sleepy and comfortable to go galloping out into the garden in my dressing gown and PJs on a frosty morning to investigate.
We have several species of cuckoos here in Murray Bridge, all of them late winter and spring visitors from the north. Many of the local species such as the honeyeaters, thornbills and other smaller bush birds will be nest building soon. The cuckoos take advantage of this to lay their eggs in a host nest.
It only called the once.
Then again, on reflection, it could have been a Common Starling; they often fool me with their good imitations of other bird calls.
Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a photo of any of the cuckoos to show you. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and get a good shot or two this breeding season.