But it sure doesn't make any sense to me!
Mr Magpie Lark has been on a mission these last two months, to defeat the terrible (and rather handsome) 'Other Guy' who lives in the window. He does battle from dawn until dusk and quite often gathers a crowd of interested onlookers. The babblers find it rather fascinating and will gather on a branch to watch him for a few minutes. One might expect that Mrs Magpie Lark would take an interest in her mates battles, however she couldn't seem to care less! She just goes about her business with the occasional "That's nice dear" or "What? Oh... well done". Mr Lark doesn't seem to mind though as he bravely battles on each day. Of late he has changed his tactics to a much scarier form of intimidation, he no longer flies directly to the wondow, but rather swoops in a terrifying dive, only to pull up at the very last minute to perch on the gutter above. There he performs his victory song, for what interloper would not be scared by his daring maneuvers...
We are employing Araminta's remedy to the birds and windows issue, and not cleaning the wondows. I'm sure when the season is finished he'll pack up and leave off our window :)
Great story Elsie. We had a young male Superb Fairy-wren that took a strong dislike to my sons ute passenger-side mirror for the same reason.It must strike them as odd as to how they both turn up at the same time every time!
Samford Valley Qld.
Thats very funny - an eccentric character amongst mapgie larks. He must be a very determined bird to fight such a never ending battle.
They are funny for sure Elsie,
I used to have a van with 2 mirrors on the passenger side, the Lark would land on the door and see himself in the first mirror and attack it and land on the mirror only to see himself in the second mirror and attack it and then back to the window and repeat. This would sometimes go on for 1/2 an hour or more at a time. When i got home i did not even get a chance to hop out of the car before he would start :)
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Many months ago, I witnessed a magpie-lark divebombing the side mirrors of buses at the bus station. It would come over to the one I was on and land and flutter by the mirror before flying to the other side and doing the same to the bus parked there, and continued to go back and forth for the whole time that we were there
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
They really are such funny birds when it comes to breeding season! One wonders what's going on in their heads, but it must be pretty exciting for them :P
Thanks for the comments!