Spring Flings

From September to the end of November is the Australian spring.

Spring is the best and worst time for birds, depending how you look at it. Most birds are busy, eager to pair-bond and over-excited to mate. Sexual distraction means many are so preoccupied they crash into windows. Luckily most bounce off, shake themselves and fly away.

Making nests, repairing nests, weaving nests, raiding nests, feathering, cleaning out and defending the nest needs meticulous patience and care.

Parent birds rely on each other for incubation or to provide food for the babes, creating a bond that can last a lifetime.

Diamond Firetail Finch considering a feather for its nest.

We only have a little blossom in the garden, but the birds and bees flap about it in this crazy mating season.

Travelling to a wedding recently, I glimpsed a wild koala in a gum just off the roadside. From the passenger seat I also saw 28 different Australian Raven nests. Two had a bird stand guard and another was incubating eggs on a scruffy nest like this one.

In spring the birds leave their flocks or family groupings and go 2 by 2.

A Galah couple, the lower female has pink eyes, the male has brown eyes.

Red-rumped Parrots: the male is brighter but they both blend into the grass.

Double-barred Finches dwarfed by the bird bath.

Rainbow Lorikeets — a pair of multi-coloured rascals.

Wooing, dancing, prancing and acrobatic mating displays are everywhere.

Presenting blades of grass or food, bowing, scraping or whirring like a helicopter is good to see. This Magpie pair gurgled and yodelled to each stopping now and then for a drink.

After birds get it on, there are long hours spent sitting on eggs or guarding nests, then endless rotations of feeding chicks that are constantly hungry.

Willie Wagtail parent on guard duty near the nest. See the dirty look? It will quickly attack bird, beast or human birder with a camera. I was allowed one shot before being told off and having it fly at my face. (I felt the wing beats.)

Birds fly faster and bathe more in spring. Welcome Swallows decided our eaves are the perfect spot to live and breed; they’ve stayed all through all the seasons for the last 3 years. Any predator who comes within 50 m of their nest is scolded; they make fearsome bombardiers.

Two Swallow parents sending a Wedge-tailed Eagle packing.

The breeding pairs think nothing of harassing a bird 100 times bigger. Nesting birds defend their territory with determination.

In my ivy covered tree there are three different Diamond Firetail Finch nests. Two are double storey, one large flask shaped nest on top of the other.

When I see nests or fledglings, I remember David Attenborough’s words:

‘All organisms are ultimately concerned to pass on their genes to the next generation…That…is the prime objective of their existence.’

Resting on a peg, a Welcome Swallow recovers on the clothes line after its first flight.

Breeding is a biological imperative and the birds go all out to make chicks in springtime. I’m glad they do.