Saturday, August 23, 2014

Silvereyes - Bread Feeding Frenzy







Today I put out some bread for the birds (actually, the silvereyes were my real target ;) around lunchtime. At first it looked like there were not going to be any takers, after 2 hours passed with barely a feather to be seen for miles. But then, just as I was about to settle in for an afternoon of work, I started hearing a certain "excited chirping". Lo and behold - there was a bird, perched on the piece of bread on the lawn (there were two others, placed on the bushes outside my window). And not any bird: it wasn't a sparrow or a blackbird/starling as you'd guess, but a silvereye! They must be getting pretty desperate now...

 Birdie + Bread



 What're you lookin' at?!



Glee! Two silvereyes hopping to-and-from the bread, while one punter stays put.


Silvereyes vs Sparrows
When the sparrows showed up, the silvereyes often held their own (though sometimes they'd all fly off, for some reason I haven't noticed).


There's a spy amongst us... Business as usual everyone...

WTF?

 More arrivals...

 This is starting to get ugly...

 I'm outta here!

 Argh! Argh! The human spotted us! The human spotted us!  (Either that, or: Fly Away! That bird has rabies)


At one point, there was one particular silvereye which was pulling some really funny expressions at all the sparrows that were converging on its compatriots...

 Huh? What're you doing? You don't seem be a silvereye...

 Let's try the other side instead...

"Oy! Step back! We're dining here!" 

Until I started feeding them bread this month, I never used to see any of the hierarchical squabbling/posturing between silvereyes which apparently takes place. However, since last time, I've learned that this apparently does happen between some of them, leading me to try putting out a few more pieces of bread to spread them out a bit to avoid any need for these shows of aggression. Didn't seem to work though, since they surprisingly went for the single piece on the ground this time!

Huh?  - "Huh"-Bird looks on in disbelief again, as a sparrow just walks up and starts eating...

 Fly away!

 Cheee! Not good, not good...

Behold, the approaching enemy army...

At times, things got quite busy, with many from both sides all jostling for position!





Fly away! Fly away! Fly awaaaayyyy!


These types of triangular setups ended up being quite common...


That pack of approaching sparrows look quite sinister...

 Go away silvie! Our turn now!

 No way!

Bugger...

 <3 <3
 Can I join in?!

 Oh, no... What's that doing here?


... Later on in the afternoon...

 Buzz off!

 ...
 ...
What happened?! How did they end up ruling the toast?

Silvereyes vs Starlings
Starlings are ugly and annoying sounding things. They're also quite aggressive. Despite that, it turns out our little silvereyes are actually quite brave at times (even though they did still fly away when the starlings first arrived).

 Making a raid behind enemy lines... Literally

 With lookout support of course...

Fly away! Fly away! 

The next two shots I particularly love. It's amazing seeing the difference in size between the birds, and how the silvereye just stands there in front of those big bullies, as if I'd photoshopped it in...

And carrying on with it's business...


Closeups
It was fun watching one silvereye approach the window, landing on the side of the bush, and sneakily "climbing" up the bush to reach the bread... In the second shot of this set, you can clearly see the intent on the bird's face - all that's missing for it to be a classic cartoon pose/sketch setup is the salivating tongue sticking out the side of the beak ;)





And here's one from the other bush. I didn't get as many good shots from that one, since every time I turned over, the movement was enough to startle whichever bird was standing there. Although I didn't get any other dining shots, I did get a few of birds trying to get away quickly (i.e. one where it just shoots out horizontally with all bits and pieces tucked in close in a streamlined way, and another where all feathers are all splayed out to gain lift).


Closing Remarks
This is so much fun! I should put out some snacks for them more often - I keep meaning to put out some sugar water, and fruits, but haven't gotten around to it yet (since I'm currently either lacking the equipment to do so, or the fruit these days isn't too great - even for birds vs humans!)

I've also uploaded the videos from the last time I put out bread for them up on Youtube (see 1, 2, 3)

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