Red Wattlebird

They’re noisy, they’re nesting, they’re notorious for aggressively defending their territory and they have pretty remarkable tongues.

Red Wattlebirds are nesting at my place again, in the same swamp paperbark (Melaleuca ericifolia) they use each year. Other birds know to keep away or risk being dive-bombed with the accompanying raucous racket enough to frighten the life out of them. I don’t think of these wattlebirds as being particularly nimble but when they are feeding youngsters they manage to hover around my windows and collect spiders to supplement the diet of their nestlings.

The bird in this week’s post isn’t from my garden but from a coffee shop a few kilometres away where I was catching up with a friend. I’d left my camera in the car but the sight of this honeyeater along with a Laughing Kookaburra, Pied Currawong and Australian Magpie was enough to make me skip over to my car. Unfortunately this wattlebird didn’t stick to spiders but busily collected tiny crumbs left on the tables.

There was a family at a nearby table, with young children, and I was stoked to see them taking an interest in the birds too. They even photographed them with their phones.

Red Wattlebirds are the largest mainland honeyeater, the only larger species is the Tasmanian Yellow Wattlebird.

And here’s a shot of its pretty amazing tongue. The length of the tongue, and its brush-tipped end are perfectly suited to gather nectar from flowers, including long tubular flowers. If you look closely you can just see the delicate, brush-tipped end of its tongue making it look as though it is fringed or fraying.

Happy birding, Kim

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