just babies

mama willie wagtail brought out her two babies the other day. one was very brave (the upper one) and the other was terrified and cried the whole time...which is how i noticed that they were there.
so cute.

I see the other one hiding below, Thats great Tessa its wonderful to be able to see them grow up.

The Butcherbird twins are like that also. I wonder why.. Guess one has to be the leader

How cute are they I only wish for these types of birds

Awww, so cute... I love watching baby birds.

How wonderful Tessa. I am so envious. I have so many birds here but never see babies - not sure why? Maybe I run around thinking how busy I am and do not stop to look. They must be there.

They may not be Willie Wagtails, Tessa.
That's a honeyeater beak, and the bottom one has yellow on its wing.
As you will see in this photo of a fledgeling Willie Wagtail

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2263/1960751679_2afb7cbe3d.jpg?v=0

the black and white are separate on the breast, as on an adult, indeed in my bird book the only difference they state in Juvenile markings is "Buff spotting on tips of black feathers". They don't have streaking on the breast like your babies.
Yours may be New Holland Honeyeaters, I don't think the juveniles have the white cheek patch that the adults have. If you can get any clearer photo's I'd love to see them.
Oh, Willie Wagtails have a totally black tail too. Hope I don't offend by correcting this? I studied the birds here for a long time and when I'd see a new one I'd look for something on it to help find out what it was. Shape of the bird, or type of beak, a spot of colour in a certain place etc.. Saying a bird is a Willie Wagtail because it's black and white is like someone telling me a Boston Terrier is a Dalmation for the same reason. Incidentally, I love the New Holland Honeyeater and was upset that they were everywhere at a native nursery maybe 20 mile away, and also at our neighbors, but I hadn't seen a single one here. Then I planted natives, didn't I? LOL. and I'm going to plant more. I'm giving up on fruit trees, they can't survive the heat here, and instead we'll plant more trees for the birds.

Going by that name are they not an Aussie native.

Yes, they are, Richard, but when we shifted here they had very little in the way of native shrubs/trees to attract honeyeaters. Pencil pines, cypresses, roses, fruit trees, but not much else. I have planted Callistemons, Grevilleas, Correas, Hakeas, etc etc. and the birds appeared from nowhere. LOL.

yeah, i was just thinking looking at the picture that thats a honey eater not a willy.

but we did have a willy family in the garden some weeks back......i got swooped and chattered at just going to the rubbish bin...then a few days later we saw a baby willy making lots of noise on the roof, and a bigger willy swooping round catching insects and feeding them to the youngster....it was fascinating.

have you seen a willy nest?....tiny and very intricate.....like little baskets lined with down....they work very hard on them and the babies quickly get too big, and have to sit on the edge.
i love birds

This is cute

plucking good wrote:

have you seen a willy nest?....tiny and very intricate.....like little baskets lined with down....they work very hard on them and the babies quickly get too big, and have to sit on the edge.
i love birds

I love them too. Our Willie Wagtail made this nest on the middle of the bike handlebars on our porch. I didn't clean the cobwebs as they offered the parents some food. I looked after the nest fell apart and they had used hair off my shetland sheepdogs in the nest's construction. Every time I do any gardening there is a Willie Wagtail close by, hoping I'll scare up something nice for it.

I thought I was going mad for a minute because they looked like new holland honeyeaters to me too

sometimes we get the adult willies bringing the bubs around the back, they sit them up on the pool umbrella and mum or dad will come over and get a mealworm i put out and take it back to feed the bubs, it is sooooooooo cute!

That's lovely, Ot. They must really trust you a lot.

That is a top pic Betty

The parents hated me for a while, Cheryl, because I kept taking photo's of them. LOL. I don't get divebombed now though.

lol, willy wagtails are so hillarious, one minute they're singing then the next they're chattering away angrily
you should hear the language when they see my cat out the back, it's not pretty i can tell you

LOL....I thought Willy Wagtails must have been a different bird to ours here...glad that was cleared up...
It is wonderful to have birds nesting close by, I would have been beside myself if the local Willy's had nested on the verandah, as they did with Betty.

I did have a pair of Welcome Swallows raise two sets of three babies on our back verandah last year.




Just the last couple of nights there have been a pair roosting under the verandah, so I expect we will have more babies later this year... I didn't find them very messy at all and for me, the name says it all....

Awww they are just TOO cute Jenny , great pics also

Love the photo of the 3 babies, Jenny.

We had Welcome Swallows flying into the feed shed, then through a gap above the wall and into our garage. Smart, because it gave them a nest site fully protected from the weather, BUT they left their mark all over our car's bonnet so we had to tell them to find another spot. I object to being attacked every time I want to feed the ponies too. Usually they nest above our windows, then sit on the clothesline telling me I'm not welcome.

Jennywren lovely pics . I don't know the welcome swallows at all, unless by another name,
They are such cuties.

Aww, so cute Jenny.

Awwww ........... What gorgeous baby birds!
I'm amazed at the nest on the handle bars, Betty, I wonder what attracted them to that spot?
Lovely Swallow pics, Jenny! The dear little things

Gorgeous photos all round. Love the handlebars and the little babies in Val's roof.

I also have Welcome Swallows each year in my car port, out of the rain and with a high enough cathedral ceiling to teach the young uns to fly. Their poop just misses my ute and hay if I have it stored there.

pamela wrote:

Gorgeous photos all round. Love the handlebars and the little babies in Val's roof.

I also have Welcome Swallows each year in my car port, out of the rain and with a high enough cathedral ceiling to teach the young uns to fly. Their poop just misses my ute and hay if I have it stored there.

That's Jenny's roof, Pamela. Wish it was mine !!

Val wrote:

Awwww ........... What gorgeous baby birds!
I'm amazed at the nest on the handle bars, Betty, I wonder what attracted them to that spot?
Lovely Swallow pics, Jenny! The dear little things

Probably the warmth, Val. Sunlight through the glass windows and well protected from any wind, plus an abundance of spider webs and insects that fly into them. That porch is never used. As for why on the handlebars, I suppose it was the logical spot in that area, but dangerous, well within our cats' jumping distance. It's a good thing they never found the nest, although you know how aggro a little Willie Wagtail can be, they were no doubt chased off. LOL.