[ireleda]

Today I learnt that Noisy Miners wash themselves with wet leaves A sprinkler hitting low hanging silky oak branches meant lots wet leaf clumps ..and the noisys were walking in & around these clumps , and exhibiting 'bath behaviour' .
I had to smile ..as it reminded me of those big car wash 'brushes'..the birds would disappear in a clump of dripping leaves, then go into the next ones, and so on .

[Quick$bux]

I have learnt anything from the garden today, but I am now better informed about noisy miners!

[GeraldCortis]

Miners aren't the only birds that do this. Any number of them will.

What they can see, is this:

[elton]

No Pictures, but i had a whole heap (about 20) of small twittery things perch and flit about on the fence in the morning... so far they've done this three days in a row...

The cat enjoys watching them...

[GeraldCortis]

Budgies in an aviary will collect the water off the wire in the same way. Both for washing and drinking.

[imictiorume]

I had a similar observation with bees drinking from the water collected in the leaves of my curl leafed parsley, swarming all over it on hot days.

[bZEUWO4F]

I watched an adult crimson rosella perched on a stem of prickly lettuce eating the seeds. The seeds are tiny but must taste nice, pity they can't eat them all. I often see them perched on dock seedheads. We also have a flock of juvenile rosellas around with the green feathers.

[imictiorume]

Another observation I made a few years ago was when i was sitting on my back deck a willy wagtail came and perched on the railing, he sat there for about 10 minutes just looking around, then he started doing a high pitched twittering for about 2 minutes or so then pause and start again, he was looking up at the roof as he did this so I looked up and as he was twittering i saw the spiders coming out from there hiding spots on there webs looking around thinking that they had caught something. Then he would swoop up and nab the spider.
All i can surmise is that the twittering was at the right pitch to make the webs vibrate.
Was amazing to watch, as this went on for about 30 mins or so, then he just flew off.
It's amazing what nature can teach us, if we only stop long enough to enjoy.

[venediene]

Another observation I made a few years ago was when i was sitting on my back deck a willy wagtail came and perched on the railing, he sat there for about 10 minutes just looking around, then he started doing a high pitched twittering for about 2 minutes or so then pause and start again, he was looking up at the roof as he did this so I looked up and as he was twittering i saw the spiders coming out from there hiding spots on there webs looking around thinking that they had caught something. Then he would swoop up and nab the spider.
All i can surmise is that the twittering was at the right pitch to make the webs vibrate.
Was amazing to watch, as this went on for about 30 mins or so, then he just flew off.
It's amazing what nature can teach us, if we only stop long enough to enjoy.

that's a brilliant observation. Willile Wagtails are one of my fav birds.

[chechokancho]

Very cool Bully113.

Not much learning, but a few observations:

We had a double rainbow and a huntsman on the gate post this morning. I told the kids it is said that it is very lucky to see a double rainbow and a huntsman on the gate post... (I am always saying things like that to them).

Then we saw a house covered in ibis (it reminded me of the owls in Harry Potter). This afternoon some friends told us the people in that house feed the birds. Minced meat I think.

I also learnt that there is a talk on tomorrow afternoon about environmental offsets by the DEC. I would love to go but don't think it will be possible...

[Percocetti]

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/...tm?site=sydney

Rare black kookaburras sighted in Liverpool, NSW.

[Arexytece]

Another observation I made a few years ago was when i was sitting on my back deck a willy wagtail came and perched on the railing, he sat there for about 10 minutes just looking around, then he started doing a high pitched twittering for about 2 minutes or so then pause and start again, he was looking up at the roof as he did this so I looked up and as he was twittering i saw the spiders coming out from there hiding spots on there webs looking around thinking that they had caught something. Then he would swoop up and nab the spider.
All i can surmise is that the twittering was at the right pitch to make the webs vibrate.
Was amazing to watch, as this went on for about 30 mins or so, then he just flew off.
It's amazing what nature can teach us, if we only stop long enough to enjoy.

wow ! great observation.

we have willy wagtails visiting regularly to clean up the spiders out the back...they 'tweet' away for awhile before feeding as well. . i need to really watch them !