Amongst the regular visitors in the trees across the road is one particular Noisy Miner.
I assume it's same one because I've observed his routine behaviours every day since I moved up here three years ago, and he seems to know me and my camera.
I decided to share these shots because they display, not only his feeding behaviour, but a possible symbiotic relationship between himself and his favourite tree, which happens to be directly opposite my balcony door.
He seems to be chipping small pieces of dried bark off the tree to get at insects eggs/larvae underneath the bark.
Probably Wood Borers, you can see worm holes in the tree trunk behind him and in the third shot he has an insect egg in his beak.
Cheer, Denis
Great behaviour shots. These guys are pretty switched on with how to find food.
We used to get some visit the security screen doors to pick out the spiders living there.
Nice photos dennis, quite a gymnastic routine its doing on the broken branch ... they seem to be very clever birds, very adaptable.
Thanks guys,
NMs are one of my favourite birds, they have a lot of personality and can be pretty fiesty.
This guy often visits my balcony to pick the spiders off the fake wrought iron balustrade. Ever when I'm at home, he'll land on the railing and eyeball me watching him over the top of my computer, and then he sets to work. As long as I don't stand up or wave my arms about - make myself big - he's quite happy. So I make a point of not cleaning the balustrade.
A few years back I recall observing a pair hold their own in a 'turf war' with a pair of those nasty Indian Mynahs at Albert Park Lake.
Up here on the urban fringe the Indian Mynah, Black Bird and Sparrow numbers are pretty low compared to the inner city, but I do wish I was still permitted to own an air rifle to deal with vermin.
Cheers, Denis.
Hold that air rifle, Denis.
Common Mynas can be dealt with by using an integrated approach of providing high quality habitat for indigenous native birds, destroying nests, blocking entrances to nesting holes in buildings, ensuring no human nesting materials are left lying around, ensuring human or pet food is left outside &, if necessary, trapping. All this works best if a community-wide approach can be developed. I believe this is happening in Canberra & several other places in Australia.
A similar approach can be used to eradicate House Sparrows. In fact, I understand that world wide House Sparrow numbers are declining but nobody knows for sue why this is so.
I've slowly reduced Common Blackbird numbers by being vigilant around nesting time, watching any consistent flight paths to locate nests, eradicating their nests then following up to intervene in any rebuilding which might occur.
Thank you indeed, Woko the Sane,
I do take your point.
I am an amateur naturalist, not a gun toting big game hunter. The last place I lived at I smoked the Mynahs out of the roof cavity with a burning oily rag and a vacuum cleaner on reverse cycle and then sealed up their access.
But your comment about a global reduction in House Sparrows is reallly intriguing - 'noboby knows'. I don't agree.
I would suggest it has a lot to do with pollutants, especially pesticides, in the environment being ingested by the birds. It affects their ability to absorb enough calcium to produce viable eggs.
I've no idea how old your are but this is one book I grew up with - https://www.nrdc.org/stories/story-silent-spring.
Twas published in 62 and lead to the banning of DDT.
Cheers, Denis.
Love your oily rag & vacuum cleaner approach, Denis. But there are times one feels like resorting, through gritted teeth, to ringing the National Rifle Association for a quick consultation.
I think there are a number of hypotheses to explain the Sparrow decline & pollutants is one. More specifically, I read some time ago that air pollution was believed to be a cause. And, yes, without revealing my age (which might send me off the page), I've read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Unfortunately, it's still extremely relevant today.
By the way, in #5 I meant avoid leaving human & pet food outside.
a few theories i heard - pesticides. sparrows need protein, insects to feed young. often these were aphids sourced from roses. chemical sprays eliminate this vital food source in urban areas, and may also cause secondary poisoning and infertility in the birds
also conscientious councils cutting seeding grasses and weeds, reducing food supply.
and new housing developments without access to holes for nesting
apparently in parts of europe they are extinct. the tree sparrow is doing even worse in europe, and is dying out in australia. i was told by a local birder that in my area a local roost in the 1960s used to have a tree sparrow population of c. 250, now none have been seen for decades.
Good 'that moment' shot with #2
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
The populatIon of House Sparrows at my place has dropped from several hundreds down to 6 a year or so ago. Now it's down to 1 & was nearly 0 a couple of days ago when it collided with a window. It seems to have recovered - for the time being.
Interesting comments. I have lived here in Samford SE Queensland for nearly eleven years now and haven't seen a sparrow once. Plenty of grass seeds here for them to eat. Yet 6 kilometres away in the village, if you visit any of the cafes for a tea or coffee you will see the sparrows just about any time.
Another thought about sparrows in regards to, "the tree sparrow is doing even worse in europe". When I was young most farms averaged about 50 acres and were made up of hedged fields, usually about 10 or more fields per dairy farm. That has changed now, Since World War II, hedgerows have been removed at a much faster rate than they have been planted. In some parts of the country 50% of hedgerows have gone to make way for "Field enlargement" (read as in makes large agricultural equipment cost effective), while others are so badly managed that their value to wildlife is much reduced.
The hedgerows were a magnificent place for all manner of small birds for nesting, food source and safety as well. Surely this has had an impact on not just the sparrows but lots of small european birds. Only the other day we were talking about the effects on the Hoopee in Austria. A similar fate as a result of modern farming techniques.
Samford Valley Qld.