Yesterday morning I witnessed the harsh reality of a bird's life. I was having a nice breakfast,watching mother Lewin's fed the young one. Then the wattlebird attacked the baby, who tried to get away, but the much faster and stronger bit it, and the little one fell to the ground.Mum followed, had a look, pecked the baby,sat for a short time and when there was no reaction, left.She obviously didn't see any hope?
I took those photos (as you can see the left foot and the wing look injured, and his eyes are half shut). I went to get dressed. When I came back to see what should be done,baby was chirping and when I got closer flew off!
Happy ending? Probabely not? Have seen mum this morning, but not the young one. It might not have made it through the night? Sad, but just shows us, how tuff a bird's life is. M-L
Here are some of the das photos:
Mum checking out Baby:
not well
one more look, and she left
wow,what type of wattlebird was it?
again,nice photos,even if it was a not so nice situation :/
this one Nathan, you tell me what it is?
but, don't hold it against it,it's in their nature to de aggressive.They are the backyard "bullies" M-L
M-L
obviously a little wattlebird
and the (red) wattlebirds here are aggresive as well,thats why in the spring they're almost the only bird i see around my garden :p
Very interesting Nathan, my Simpson&Day says, there are two different Wattlebirds, were you live, the Little Wattlebird, and were I live (VIC), the Brush Wattlebird. Any thoughts on that? M-L
M-L
Sorry to hear this. Would've been great to watch a young Lewin's growing up but Wattlebirds chase anything and I mean anything, I have seen them successfully chasing crows!!
Cheers, Owen.
Yes, aggressive little beggars. I was delighted to see a New Holland HE chasing a Little W'bird a few days ago in my backyard! About time they copped some of their own!
Cheers,
Scott.
PS - Not what we had planned for your new HE's M-L :(
correct me if i misunderstood you,but there are at least 4 species of wattlebird,red,yellow,little,and brush
@ Owen1 im not sure about the other side of Aus,but in W.A, Willy Wagtails chase BOP,which is very comical :p
Yes Nathan, I know, but I think if you look at the distribution map, mine tells me, the little wattlebird is where you live, and over here we have the brush- wattlebird? (that's what my S&D tells me)If that's wrong, I'm happy to learn.
@ I have photos somewhere of a Wagtail chassing a BOP, seen it too. M-L
M-L
haha we have both,the little and the red
little wattlebirds seem
much more submissive then the slightly larger red wattlebird
i keep mixing up the little and brush wattlebirds :p
I'm a bit confused. My old Simpson & Day tells me that there are 4 wattlebirds: brush, little, red & yellow. The brush was little but is now what the little was in s.e. Australia.
My more recent Morcombe also tells me there are 4 wattlebirds: yellow, red, little & western. The western is what was the little wattelbird race lunulata which is in WA.
Can anyone clarify for me the latest state of play on the wattlebirds?
Thanks Woko, someone understands what I'm talking about! In my book it even tells me two different names.
Little Wattlebird (WA)- Anthochaera lunulata
Brush Wattlebird (Vic)- Anthochaera chrysoptera
That means exactly what I said, in my garden is the Brush Wattlebird, unless they have now declared it be one and the same species? I would like to know as well. M-L
M-L
ok,what i gather from this,there is the brush wattlebird in SE aus and the western wattle bird in WA,whom were both the little wattlebird at one stage
correct?
im probably wrong again :p
Hi Nathan, in most of my books it is as Araminta and you say, however Slater calls the WA one the western wattlebird and the SE one the little wattlebird - the scientific names are the same as in the other books though. Apparently they both used to be the little wattlebird (I have one older photographic book which has them both as that). I have given up trying to work out why some books have different common names, I just check the scientific names to see if they're talking about the same birds. Birds of prey are another, several seem to have different common names - Nankeen kestrel, Black Kite, and others too. Nice if the book people got together and had some consensus on it! I can't spell most of the scientific ones without an effort and I can't afford to keep buying new books to keep up with changes.
Meave
I wonder what it is we have in SA. I've always called the little wattlebird the little wattlebird (which may come as a surprise to some), being unaware that it could be the brush wattlebird.
While the bird books continue to be at odds it might avoid confusion if posters use the scientific names (as you do, Meave). I'll have to lift my game as I'm more familiar with scientific names of plants than birds. I see a whole new world opening for me!
Mea culpa...
M-L
Ahhh, life can be cruel, as I said way at the start, posting photos of the unhappy baby Lewin's .M-L
M-L