Apostlebirds, Silver City Highway
Apostlebirds can be real bullies: when I lived at Scotia Sanctuary I once had them completely destroy the Willie Wagtail nest outside my little house. The poor little Willie Wagtail pair were completely out-numbered and dwarfed by the Apostlebirds but they kept trying to defend it, even when all that remained were a couple of twigs. It was horrible.
Yet, Apostlebirds can be very sweet and have some quite endearing qualities. They all chip in to look after the kid/s and they're always looking out for each other. My favourite thing is when they are having a spell in a shady tree and they just softly chitter away to each other. It often seems that they are checking that everyone is ok and reassuring each other.
These are great birds - but not all behaviour is up to scratch.
ReplyDeleteI think these extended family birds are really interesting and we have more of them than anywhere else in the world.
I can see that the trip from Tassie to Mildura would be a big one!
Cheers - Stewart M