A few months back we had superb fairy wrens nesting in our backyard. There was three babies who have now grown up. A few minutes ago iwas outside watching the fairy wrens when i saw a very tiny one. I followed it and it led me to about 7 or more tiny fairy wren chicks! they were playing around in the bushes, there were so many i couldent count! I can not garontee this but i think the last babies were still there helping the parnt birds. I am wondering if it is normal to have that many or if it was many different woman laying eggs?
I will try to donload pics soon but it was getting dark when i spotted them so couldent get any.
Also ihave found a Buff banded rail nest downthe road in a pond. I only saw one but according to the girl who was there before me there were 2 adults and a juvenile.
may be able to get photos of these but unlikely as they are so hidden.
Hi birdiee
7 chicks is a huge number and I have never heard of a clutch that size before! SFWs are very territorial so they don't associate with other SFW's during breeding season. They are also cooperative breeders - the juvenille males get to stay with mum and dad and raise the next clutch of young. I will be very interested to see if they look to be all the same age. Might be some sort of record!
Holly (I did my phd on SFWs)
Hi you two, sorry to contradict, but just outside my window I can count more than 15 SFW"s ,all hanging out in the same spot.You can not tell which juvenilles belong to whom!! But, they are all getting on well!!Now, please explain..
M-L
and , yes, they all look the same age.I get those large numbers every year. (I live next to the Bunyip State Park in Victoria)
M-L
Outside of the breeding season they are known to get together in larger numbers - so all I can theorise is that conditions are so great where you are so there isn't strong competition for limited resources even during the breeding season and so a couple of families are mingling happily.
Alternatively - there is one dominant male, a dominant female, and the other brown birds (and maybe even some males have moulted into adult plumage) are all their offspring and again, the habitat is able to support them all happily.
Without doing banding, and even better, genetic testing, it will be difficult to know who is who and whom is related to whom (that would be so fun to do)
I think you are right on two fronts, I have noticed_one dominant male,not sure which one the dominant female is, because most look just brown to me. The conditions seem to be excellent for all birds at my place this year. I was worried at the start of the season, because I didn't have many smaller birds,now, that the wattle birds have finished their breeding, there are more little birds than we ever had before.
M-L
Thank you for replying, that wouldmake sense. there is probably less than 7 i am just getting them mixed up with the last juveniles. I would be surprized if there were any more around as i live in a very small area and to be honest i am not sure, but i dont reckon they would get much food.
i am still very confused but next time i see them i will try to count them.
thanks again
yours,
birdiee