Aggressive Bird Behaviour in the Garden
Willie Wagtail
While working in the garden yesterday morning I was suddenly alerted to a noisy confrontation nearby. Our resident Willie Wagtails love to frequent one particular spot where there is an abundance of insects.
Suddenly a New Holland Honeyeater dived in to reap his share of the smorgasbord. The Willie Wagtail became quite aggressive, fanning his tail up high, ruffling the feathers all over and calling in what seemed to me to be in quite an angry – perhaps even distressed – way.
The honeyeater retreated to a nearby tree, only to swoop in repeatedly over the next few minutes. Each time the honeyeater would snap at the Willie Wagtail, zip away a metre or so, grab another insect, and retreat hurriedly to the refuge tree.
These attacks seemed to trigger even more aggression in the Willie Wagtail who decided to front up to the interloper. They then faced each other at about ten paces (bird step size – about 10cm) angrily calling in each others’ face. One last beakful of food and the New Holland Honeyeater decided that other parts of the garden were more attractive anyway, and it flew off. The Willie Wagtail continued to feast contentedly on his little patch.
Further reading:
- Aggressive birds – articles from my archives
This post updated in September 2015.
New Holland Honeyeater
Willie Wagtail accident
One of the common bird species around home here in Murray Bridge is the Willie Wagtail. This is a widespread species throughout Australia and is familiar to most people, even those with little interest in birds. We have a resident breeding pair in our garden.
From time to time one of them comes to visit our bird bath. This morning I saw the water splashing in all directions so I raced into the office to grab my digital camera. This is one species that has eluded my camera thus far.
I managed to take about eight photos before disaster struck. The Willie Wagtail upset the bird bath, knocking it and the contents to the ground. I was surprised because I had thought that even bigger birds would not be able to tip it over. It’s perched on the cut down trunk of an old dead mallee tree and has a brick inside it.
The Willie Wagtail nonchalantly flew to a nearby branch, gave his feathers a shake, preened for a few seconds and then flew off.
Perhaps I need a bigger brick.
Related articles:
- Strange Willie Wagtail
- Birds are a distraction
- Willie Wagtails calling at night
- Great birding moments #4 – Willie Wagtail
Willie Wagtail
Rufous Fantail
Elusive bird
One of my favourite Australian birds is the Rufous Fantail, a member of the flycatcher family. As its name suggests, it fans its tail out as is flits to and fro through the forest looking for insects. When the sunlight catches the spread out tail feathers they glow with an amazing deep rufous colour. The photos and illustrations of this species I had seen in books and field guides gave me a deep desire to track down this lovely bird.
My Problem
Now this desire presents a problem to me. I live in South Australia. Rufous Fantails live along the eastern and south eastern coastal areas of Australia. Only infrequently have they been recorded in my home state. That means I have to travel to see this lovely creature. A few years ago, during a holiday in Victoria, I checked out various spots on the Mornington Peninsula where this delightful bird is known to frequent.
No luck
I walked various trails day after day without even a hint of the species I sought. One day I must have walked for several hours without luck. Plenty of other species, but no fantail. Wearily I returned to the car, only to find two of them cavorting merrily around the car! It was enough to make me laugh with joy.
Unexpected Visitor
Today I received an email from a birder in Glebe, inner-west Sydney. He told of how he had a Rufous Fantail fly in through an open door and into his unit. I can’t believe how different birders have such different experiences with the same species. I walked for hours – no days – before I was rewarded with brief glimpses of this species. This fellow comes home from shopping and one flies into his unit. Sometime it’s enough to make one cry.