Tag Archives: nest

Birds

Wrens have left the nest!

At least two baby Superb Blue Wrens are keeping their parents really on their toes now! They left the nest some time yesterday and are now happily tweeting out to each other while the anxious parents keep watch.
They are constantly on the move, flitting about between the wattles and grevillias. Mum and dad keeping to the higher vantage points as lookouts.
I had one fledgling land only inches away, but by the time I moved the camera up to focus the branch was empty again. Such little sweeties!!!

 

Update March 1, 2011:
The wren numbers have rapidly jumped from 5 (two adults and 3 young) to over 7. They seem to be quite happy flitting about the garden, through the bushes, shrubs and trees. The dominant male still spends some time each day fighting his reflection …

Birds

A prickly solution

Just discovered my wild Superb Blue Wrens have built a nest in the heart of a prickly shrub close to the contested glass pane! This could account for the male’s excessively aggressive response to his reflection – so close to his nest.

Both the male and female have been observed with beaks full of food behaving very warily in the vicinity of the nest. When they’re comfortable they’ll not be seen, they make a quick dash into the bush, leaving quick and low shortly thereafter. Indications are they are feeding young!!

When the young successfully fledge I’ll get some photos of the nest. For now, we’ll keep well clear 🙂

Update: pics as promised (ok they’ve been sitting on my HD for a while waiting to be cropped and uploaded)

The front entry to the wrens nest
Front entry to the Superb Blue Wrens nest, deep inside a finger lime bush.

The nest is about the size of a decent grapefruit, or two tennis balls one above the other. It’s compact and difficult for anything bigger than a wren to approach. The thorns on the finger lime are savage!

The back of the wrens nest
The tightly woven grasses of the back of the Superb Blue Wrens nest.

This is the back of the nest. Very difficult for any predator to approach from this side too, which is probably just as well. A 25cm long lizard seems to have moved into the rock wall near the finger lime bush. It would probably relish birds eggs as a meal …