Hungry mouths

Our pair of Mistletoe birds are now being kept very busy with a family of three hatchlings to feed.

As usual it is the most aggressive youngster that gets out in front to try and get the major share of the food.

Home in a babies bootee

At last some rain, our fire threat is over and now time to enjoy nature. The Mistletoe Birds that have been around a lot must have considered that our abundance of mistletoe was an ideal location to set up house. Today I discovered they have built their nest in the Native Peach tree below our verandah just across the driveway from the Spotted Gum with all the available food. Both the male and female were busy taking turns in the nest and also eating mistletoe berries.

Male on mistletoe (berries on the branch)

Female 

 Their nest is quite special as it is made from quite a collection of leaves, feathers, fur and held together with spiderweb and sticky mistletoe gum. It is generally described as looking like a babies bootee or a ladies purse, that has been decorated by the birds with items of brownish tones.

Female in the nest

Not mistletoe

We have a large Spotted Gum E. maculata just near our verandah that has quite a few clumps of mistletoe Dendrophthoe vitellina on a number of the branches. These are a prime feeding source for many birds, but one is so closely identified with mistletoe that it is called the Mistletoe Bird. At present the mistletoe is in flower so the birds are feeding on the nectar and insects attracted to the flowers. Once the berries form then this is the real attraction for the mistletoe birds and their relationship with the spread of the plant, as the fruit passes quickly through the bird's system and the excreted seed which has a particularly sticky coating, is left on a branch to sprout and grow on the host plant.
Today I found a pair of Mistletoe Birds Dicaeum hirundinaceum opposite the tree and feeding on the berries of the Native Peach Trema aspera.
The male was more interested in singing to impress the female, where as she was very busy working all over the bush and not giving much opportunity for a photo, but she did display the only bit of colour from her otherwise brown tones.

Catch up

Have been busy and missed getting a couple of posts up in the last few days so thought I would pop them up today.

Last Friday was a good day for birds and a few were quite special like this Eastern Spinebill that was having a sip from the flowers of the Kangaroo Paws Anigozanthos flavidus in our garden.
The Scarlet Honeyeaters are still around although not so numerous now the bottle brushes have almost finished their flowering period.

The other bird with a patch of bright red plumage is the male Mistletoe Bird and one was very active amongst the mistletoe that is on many of the branches of the spotted gum in front of the house.

On Saturday it was a female Orchard Butterfly Papilio aegeus aegeus getting some early morning sun that caught my attention.

 

This was followed by finding a day flying moth Dysgonia frontinus that was also getting some sun although on the underside.

 This moth's caterpillars feed on one of the native plants Breynia oblongifolia that is quite widespread on the property.