Thinking of starting a family?

Build your own or move into an established unit. there are many architectural styles to choose from. Right now is the best time and many of our local birds are doing just that. Some of the early starters have already seen their brood leave home, but some are just beginning. This delicate Willy Wagtail nest has just been completed and is only about 2.5 metres off the ground. If I forget it is there, I am noisily scolded by it’s owner until I leave the area. The first egg was laid yesterday.

The mudlark builds it’s nest out of MUD (surprisingly). This one is built in a tree overhanging a dam. I hope the young don’t dive out on a hot day.

Then there are the homes provided by nest box building programs to replace some of the hollows lost in the 2009 fires. In this one the male Crimson Rosella was chatting away to his partner who was inside laying the first egg of her clutch. Another box with a larger entrance, built to house a brushtail possum, provides an excellent nest for a wood duck  safely out of reach of foxes. This clutch contains 10 eggs nestled in down from the mother duck. Very cosy. I look forward to seeing a bunch of fluffy ducks paddling across one of our dams soon.