Aggressive wattlebirds

By Birding-Aus, on June 1st, 2015

Hello Berenice, Wattlebirds (both Red and Little) are frequently very aggressive towards other smaller birds that intrude on their territories. The local Little Wattlebirds stand guard over our garden and viciously attack any Eastern Spinebills that appear with a loud clap of the bill – fortunately the spinebills always seem to escape. Our Little Wattlebirds even manage to keep out any visiting Red Wattlebirds as well. Other visiting honeyeaters like Yellow-faced, White-naped and Fuscous stay well up in the treetops out of harm’s way. We used to live in Canberra where Red Wattlebirds were the residents in our garden. One morning my wife saw the wattlebird attack an errant young Pink Robin. The wattlebird broke both the robin’s legs. So, some wattlebirds are just as bad as Noisy Miners in keeping smaller birds out of a garden, but also capable of inflicting harm Regards Graeme Chapman

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pveerman

June 1, 2015 at 12:48 pm

Honeyeaters in general are aggressive. Not just our family but for example hummingbirds that are also nectar feeders are equally or moreso. My guess is the little birds Berenice was mentioning as being chased are likely to be pardalotes. —–Original Message—– Graeme Chapman Sent: Monday, 1 June 2015 10:44 AM Cc: birding-aus@birding-aus.org Hello Berenice, Wattlebirds (both Red and Little) are frequently very aggressive towards other smaller birds that intrude on their territories. The local Little Wattlebirds stand guard over our garden and viciously attack any Eastern Spinebills that appear with a loud clap of the bill – fortunately the spinebills always seem to escape. Our Little Wattlebirds even manage to keep out any visiting Red Wattlebirds as well. Other visiting honeyeaters like Yellow-faced, White-naped and Fuscous stay well up in the treetops out of harm’s way. We used to live in Canberra where Red Wattlebirds were the residents in our garden. One morning my wife saw the wattlebird attack an errant young Pink Robin. The wattlebird broke both the robin’s legs. So, some wattlebirds are just as bad as Noisy Miners in keeping smaller birds out of a garden, but also capable of inflicting harm Regards Graeme Chapman

rand0053

June 1, 2015 at 11:46 am

The red and little wattlebirds in my Barossa Valley Garden and my hand raised wattlebirds are not aggressive towards others including the Eastern Spinebills that pass through at this time of the year. But I am interested in the leg breaking behaviour as I have seen hand-reared New Hollands and White-plumed honeyeaters do this to less dominant birds in an aviary. Has anyone else noticed the leg-breaking behaviour? Regards, Alex Randell ________________________________________ Sent: Monday, June 1, 2015 12:43 AM Cc: birding-aus@birding-aus.org Hello Berenice, Wattlebirds (both Red and Little) are frequently very aggressive towards other smaller birds that intrude on their territories. The local Little Wattlebirds stand guard over our garden and viciously attack any Eastern Spinebills that appear with a loud clap of the bill – fortunately the spinebills always seem to escape. Our Little Wattlebirds even manage to keep out any visiting Red Wattlebirds as well. Other visiting honeyeaters like Yellow-faced, White-naped and Fuscous stay well up in the treetops out of harm’s way. We used to live in Canberra where Red Wattlebirds were the residents in our garden. One morning my wife saw the wattlebird attack an errant young Pink Robin. The wattlebird broke both the robin’s legs. So, some wattlebirds are just as bad as Noisy Miners in keeping smaller birds out of a garden, but also capable of inflicting harm Regards Graeme Chapman

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Aggressive wattlebirds

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