I am after some advice, I hope this is the right place to ask.
I have had a pair of Willie Wagtails nesting outside my house for two years. They were unsuccessful in the first year, something took their first lot of eggs and they appeared to abandon the nest. However this season they returned and have been quite prolific, they are on their forth lot of hatchlings.
Last night the adult birds were missing for several hours, then one returned. All today there has only been one adult so I assume that something has happened to the other one. Also the remaining adult has become much more aggressive towards me, they had reached the point of ignoring me when I opened the door.
There was also a juvenile that I have not seen earlier, although possilby one of their last lot, that turned up briefly and was chased by the adult. It did manage to sneek in a few times and seemed to be fedding the chicks, which I thought was unusual.
I am wondering if there is some way that I can make things easier for the remaining adult?
The most helpful thing you can do, trevorhemail-birds, is to let the birds be. Making things easier for the remaining adult has the potential to make that bird dependent on you or other humans for protection. Birds need to learn to fend for themselves by doing what birds do.
Having said that, if there is a cat or other feral creature in the neighbourhood which has eaten one of the adult willie wagtails then you could use your best endeavours to discourage or remove this creature from the repertoire of risks to the resident willie wagtails.
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Thanks for the reply.
I expected that feeding or such was not a good idea and I am not in a position to do anything along those lines anyway.
I can't avoid being near the nest a lot and it has not been a problem in the past, so I am more worried about the higher level of concern the bird has about me and the fact that it now seems to be concentrating more on my presence than it used to, previously the bird on the nest would fly out and catch insects frequently, but now it sits watching me, or if I am really close it will start the aggressive flying at me that they do to chase animals away, which neither bird has done in the past.
Really what I was trying to ask, and did very poorly, was is there anything I can do to stop the bird being so concerned with me being there? I am worried it is spending time concentrating on me rather than feeding its chicks.
Hi Trevor. I think, if the birds have been successful in bringing up 4 lots of young, they are very experienced parents. Tragedies happen in nature every day, birds are used to it. Take my resident pair of Wrens, she is sitting on eggs now, 3 time, she has lost all the others. Birds will try again and again, and have more or less success. Nothing you can do. They either will get used to you or they will start new somewhere else. The life of any bird is tuff.
But as Woko says, we can protect them from harm by keeping cats and dogs away from then ( indoors), and providing them with the right habitat.It's nice of you to care about those birds
Good luck for the birds and you.
M-L
It is better and more natural for the bird to be afraid (or at least wary) of humans and other potential predators especially when they are raising young. It is when wild animals become habituated, dependent or less wary that problems occur as lessening the fear that protects the animal can cause fatal delays in defence or escape reactions when a non friendly human or other animal approaches. I understand that the current response of the bird who seemed to trust you may hurt your feelings - that is only natural - however if you can see that the current response may actually save the life of this willy wagtail and its young then I hope this helps to modify the degree of those feelings.
Alison
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"the earth is not only for humans, but for all animals and living things."
Alison & Arminat are on the money, I reckon, Trevor. The fact that the parent bird is being aggressive towards you is really a warning to keep away from its nest. Rejoice in its behaviour! It's natural! As Araminta says, if they don't like you walking near them then they'll try somewhere different next season. It's a great way for humans & other animals to live in harmony. If you pulled down its nest because you didn't like the way it raised its eyebrows at you (have you noticed how its eyebrows widen when its warning you off?) then that would be a tragedy but that's not what's happening as you describe it.