Precarious position

As described in the previous post, A wine glass half empty, it’s always a delight to come across an active bird’s nest, but things don’t always go to plan. We were surprised to find a flimsy nest in a spindly Drooping Sheoak (see below) out in the open at the back of our place. Further surprise came when we discovered a couple of downy chicks in the nest. These turned out to belong to a pair of Dusky Woodswallows, part of a small flock that had taken up residence here recently.
 

We were able to watch from a distance for a day or two as the parents regularly flew in to feed the chicks. But, perhaps inevitably given the precarious position of the nest and the number of predatory birds around – kookaburras, currawongs, butcherbirds and several raptors – the next visit to the site just a couple of days later revealed no sign of the nest, chicks or even adults – nothing!

It’s a tough world out there, and although our woodswallows got one stage further than Ronlit’s fantails, the result unfortunately was the same in the end.

See the slide show below for more pictures.
 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.