First time find, went to do some burning off and found this couple retrieving nesting material from the piece of stringy bark off some fire wood. I have now postponed the burn, they were back and forth all day gathering nesting material. I tried to follow them back to their nest bust once their in forest canopy its vety hard to see where these littles birds go.
Matt
Good on you Matt, hope you can safely get that burn done soon. Bush fires are a natural part of living in this harsh land, and I'm sure these little guys would cope, but still if you can wait till after nesting season safely, then seems a good option.
Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
what a great opportunity, I would stake out the timber pile each day
do you have to burn off at all?
Peter
That's so wonderful Matt, doesn't that tell all of us something? We have left a pile of twiggs and branches in one pile. We did the same last year, the wrens and all the tiny Thornbills love to hide in there and pick insect. In your beahtiful photos you can see how valuable a rotting pile of wood is. Trust me we have lived in one of the highest fire danger areas for 17 years now, and seen many fires come close to the house. Trust me, a small pile of wood is not going to make a difference, unless you put it right next to the house, but it is of great importance to many animals.
M-L
Thanks, guys no I dont need to burn this pile off this year it can wait until next year. It is just very dry all around us at the moment and they are forecasting to be a dry spring/summer. There may even be some wrens nesting in there I will have closer look tommorrow.
Matt
M-L, I am like you I have a lot of Natural Parks and State Forest around us none of which have been cleared or burned on a long long time. Only been in one fire and that was in the Royal National Park at Mainbar in Sydney several years ago we were trapped in the area for five days and the fire only came with in a couple of Km's. The skies turned bright orange every night and some of the days were almost as dark as nights with the smoke of us.
Matt
Who would think that such a small bird that spend all it time high up in the tree tops , would nest in the ground . Great shots anyway .
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
One of my favorites Matt, great shots.
Always great to see where these birds source their nesting material. It gives me the horrors when I see council burning off or clearing during the nesting season. I've seen egrets attacking huge machines trying to defend their eggs and young. How they survive fires is beyond me.
Karen
Brisbane southside.
Gosh I remember that fire matt - it certainly was a scary one. There are already lots of grass fires around the Sydney region, I got stuck on the F6 a couple of weeks back when that one closed it.
Amazing photos of an amazing bird too, well done on simply observing what was happening!
Wow Matt, how lovely to find them. thank you for posting so many lovely shots showing their nesting behaviour. and Thanks for not burning off during the nesting season, if it is safe for you . It just hshows that it is not hard to be aware and observant of the natural world around you doesn't it? Should make for a few photo ops for you whiel they are gathering anyway.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
They're really delightful shots, especially the ones where the little birds are holding the nesting material