Feasting on dragonflies

The Rainbow Bee-eaters along Cemetery Road are still feeding tunnel-bound nestlings, almost exclusively now on dragonflies. It must be a perilous life being a dragonfly – while these wonderful insects are themselves fierce predators they are easily caught by skilled hunters such as the Rainbowbird. This morning the birds seemed to be catching dragonflies at the rate of about one every five minutes or so!

Rainbow Bee-eaters with dragonfly prey, Cemetery Road Newstead, 31st December 2011.

According to one reference (Pywell, 1990) dragonflies may contribute up to 65% of the energy value captured by foraging bee-eaters – the insects seem to have become more important food as the young are close to fledging. Rainbow Bee-eaters are regarded as ‘sentinel-feeders’, sitting on a high perch and waiting for unlucky insects, such as dragonflies, bees, wasps and moths to pass within range. Generally they seem to be successful with at least 50% of their foraging attempts – a pretty good strike rate.

Returning to the perch after another successful feeding sally.

Another unlucky dragonfly!

Reference: Pywell, S.R. 1990. Unpublished. BSc (Hons) thesis, Monash University, Melbourne.

The Night-Herons of Pound Lane

by Dean McLaren

In late September this year I was thrilled to see the return of a Nankeen or Rufous Night-Heron to our property in Pound Lane. On consulting my battered copy of the Readers Digest Birds of Australia, I discovered that it had been ten years since I had previously recorded a sighting. The mature female has continued to return on a regular basis and this morning I was surprised to see her perching in the trees above our dam accompanied by a juvenile. The juvenile was much more timid, and as such a little harder to get a decent photo. If the female is the same as one I had seen earlier, it would appear to have lost a leg since I first discovered it.

Adult Nankeen Night-Heron, Pound Lane Newstead, 30th December 2011.

Immature Nankeen Night-Heron, Pound Lane Newstead, 30th December 2011.

On further investigation I can see that they like to perch on one leg and tuck the other one up into their feathers!

Kite versus Sparrowhawk

Aggression between raptors is a common occurrence – the Whistling Kite is one species well-known for harassing other birds of prey with the intention of pirating food. I watched such an incident by the Loddon River earlier this week. A Whistling Kite had spotted a Collared Sparrowhawk with a recent kill, perched beside the river. The kite made a dive towards the sparrowhawk, disturbing it from its perch and then a series of mid-air manoeuvres to encourage it to release its hard-won prey. None of its efforts were successful however and the more agile sparrowhawk eventually retreated to safer territory – all the while maintaining a tight grip on its meal.

Whistling Kite chasing Collared Sparrowhawk, Loddon River, 28th December 2011

Collared Sparrowhawk with prey, Loddon River @ Newstead, 28th December 2011.

The unsuccessful kite!

Note: The square tail in the first photograph is an aid to distinguishing the Collared Sparrowhawk from its close relative the Brown Goshawk which has a rounded tail. Both species are locally common.

A successful deception

The bird photographed in yesterday’s post is in fact a juvenile Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo. I was alerted to its presence by a begging call that drew a quick response from a male Superb Fairy-wren arriving with food for the hungry cuckoo.

Juvenile Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo begging, Loddon River @ Newstead, 28th December 2011.

I watched the cuckoo closely for about twenty minutes. During this time at least five individual wrens supplied food and the party followed the cuckoo wherever it went – generally finding a well concealed spot amongst the blackberries.

The bronze-cuckoo attended by a female fairy-wren after feeding.

On a couple of occasions the cuckoo was swarmed by White-plumed Honeyeaters – obviously they were aware of the successful deception unlike the fairy-wrens who had dutifully raised the imposter from the egg.

Two White-plumed Honeyeaters (above) mobbing the juvenile Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo.

This species of cuckoo is known for favouring host species that make a dome-shaped nest, like Fairy-wrens. It is amazing that this deception works – the developing cuckoo is certainly very different to a young Superb Fairy-wren.

Male Superb Fairy-wren arriving to feed the fledgling cuckoo.

Natural puzzle #5

Can you identify the bird in the photograph below? I spotted it in the company of a family of Superb Fairy-wrens this afternoon, amongst the blackberries beside the Loddon River. It  is part of an interesting story … more to follow!

Look carefully at the wings for a clue to my identity.

Spotting a diamond

The Diamond Firetail Stagonopleura guttata is a beautiful local finch – the box-ironbark country is one of its strongholds. For some time it has been regarded as vulnerable, one of a suite of woodland species threatened by habitat fragmentation and decline. I was fortunate yesterday to also see two of its ‘colleagues’, the Crested Bellbird and Painted Honeyeater in the area north of Spring Hill Track.

Diamond Firetail, Mia Mia Track, 27th December 2011.

Diamond Firetails prefer lightly timbered habitats and can often be found on the margins between better quality woodland and farmland where they find seeding grasses, the main part of their diet. I sense this species is doing quite well locally and I’ve been seeing it regularly over the past year at many different locations. The sexes are almost identical, with the female having a slightly paler red bill during the breeding season. They are locally resident and can be found year round in suitable habitat – always a delight to see.

The same individual preening.

Thanks Bill!

People who have lived and worked a long time in the bush are often acutely keen observers of nature. So when local Newsteadian Bill Tangey stopped me yesterday to mention an unusual bird he had spotted I knew it would be well worthwhile listening. The bird Bill had seen was on a small bush block on the outskirts of town and while the description was detailed I was at a loss to guess its identity. A visit to the site later in the afternoon revealed the owner – in fact a pair of Black-fronted Plovers Elseyornis melanops.

Black-fronted Plover, Jack's Lane Newstead, 22nd December 2011.

It was a real highlight to discover that the pair had an active nest, with two eggs – situated in a pretty challenging site on bare ground in full midday sun, almost 100 metres from the nearest water. This species is renowned for its ability to nest successfully in such locations.

One of the parents sitting on the nest.

Two handsome eggs!

I suspected there was a nest when one of the parents started a distraction display not long after my arrival. The display involved the bird facing away from me, opening its wings and crouching low with its tail fanned open, showing the rich chestnut tail feathers.

The distraction display of the Black-fronted Plover.

While Black-fronted Plovers can be found on many local wetlands and larger farm dams the nest is notoriously difficult to locate on account of the vigilance of the parents and the well camouflaged eggs.

Thanks Bill!

A Xmas Mistletoe story

I thought it fitting to mention Mistletoe at Xmas … especially having the good fortune yesterday to capture a rarely seen part of an ecological puzzle. With my lens focused on a female Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum it thoughtfully perched sideways on a stick and proceeded to deposit a recently consumed seed!

Female Mistletoebird, Newstead Cemetery, 22nd December 2011.

Female Mistletoebird depositing seed.

Mistletoebirds feed almost exclusively on the fruits of this fascinating group of plants and are crucial to their dispersal and life-cycle. The seed is covered with a sticky, mucilaginous coating that readily adheres to the surface of twigs and branches, where they germinate. The coating survives the journey through the bird’s gut intact. There is obviously a strong interdependence between the Mistletoebird and the various species of mistletoe and the bird has successfully propagated the plant throughout its habitat, ensuring an abundant and reliable food supply.

The extraordinary mistletoe seed!

Mistletoe is a parasite, with the attached plant tapping into water and nutrients of its host, eventually killing the plant beyond the point of attachment. In some cases plants can become infested with mistletoe to the extent that they die, although this is unusual in healthy habitat. Isolated paddock trees are most at risk – with few choices the Mistletoebird can deposit many seeds on a single tree, leading to a sometimes unbearable parasite load. In our district there are a number of species of Mistletoe that can be found on eucalypts and wattles. The species photographed below is Box Mistletoe Amyema miquelii.

Box Mistletoe buds, flowers and fruits, Newstead, 23rd December 2011.

To complete the story nicely a male Mistletoebird flew in and perched briefly enough for me to admire its spectacular red and glossy blue-black plumage.

The male Mistletoebird.

Footnote: The efforts of the female were in vain … it chose to leave its seed on the already dead branch of a Cootamundra Wattle!

Woodswallows … spotted!

Young Woodswallows like some other species have a spotted appearance … this seems to provide greater camouflage at a vulnerable time of life. On an early morning walk yesterday I came across a pair of Dusky Woodswallows feeding two young birds, not long out of the nest.

Adult Dusky Woodswallow bringing food to begging youngster, Sullivan's Track Newstead, 22nd December 2011.

The juveniles were sitting in separate trees, begging noisily whenever the adults appeared nearby. The feeding visits were brief and efficient, no doubt in an effort to draw attention to the young birds which would have been an easy target for the local currawongs and kookaburras.

Juvenile Dusky Woodswallow in begging pose.

With the young bird fed the parent is ready to head off hunting again.

Birds and barbed-wire

Many birds are quite happy to use artificial structures to perch on. Barbed-wire is a particular favourite. I captured the following images yesterday within about ten minutes or so, near the Newstead Cemetery.

Male Superb Fairy-wren, Newstead Cemetery, 21st December 2011.

Red-browed Firetail, Newstead Cemetery, 21st December 2011.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Newstead Cemetery, 21st December 2011.

Red-rumped Parrot (immature male), Newstead Cemetery, 21st December 2011.