Hi all.
Here in Mulgoa Valley we have had an irruption of Superb Fairy Wrens over the last few weeks, Almost all “brown birds”, one male in eclipse plumage, one in full breeding garb.
I watched two brown birds in what looked like mortal combat, the victim spread eagled
under the attacker who would not let go. Three other bbs flew to the rescue, jumped on the attacker then all flew off.
They are very engaging little birds, popping in and out of our pot plant collection, coming up to our feet if we sit still enough.
Almost overnight their numbers dropped from maybe thirty around the house for over a week to five or six, including an eclipse make and two young dark tailed males. Where did they go?
Best
Michael
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Fairywrens are a pretty amazing family. It’s easy to assume that the behaviours of one species can be generalised to others – but research shows some incredible differences.
If you’ve been listening to Michael Greenshields’ excellent podcast (The Birder’s Guide) you may have heard Niki Teunissen discuss her study of Purple-crowned Fairywrens. This species is unique amongst Australian Fairywrens in that all the males help out the colony by feeding young and defending the nest against predators – including goshawks and goannas!! I can’t imagine how well that would go but the sort of behaviour Michael described may well be a group response to a perceived predator. Maybe other fairywren species work collaboratively to defend nests?
Perhaps some of the other fairywren studies can shed light on Michael’s observations.
And I’m not sure why the big group of birds would suddenly disband overnight. It will be interesting to see if you get a winter flock next year. Perhaps you’ve missed them in previous years because you were at work and not in lockdown???
Russell Woodford
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