Saturday 6 May 2017

Our resident willy wagtail

is getting bolder. I am sure he is a very young bird. He first appeared back in the late summer. 
I was doing some watering when he flew in. Water! He flew through the spray, shook himself and landed on the fence. From there he looked at me - and then, when I stayed still, he repeated the exercise over and over again.  
Since then he has been back most days. He has grown a little and is probably now full size. 
Some mornings I have gone out and he has been on the lawn eating whatever is to be found there. For a long time he would fly a little way off and just watch me.
This morning he stayed where he was. I was almost close enough to touch him. He dipped his tail at me. As I hung the clothes out  he sat on a post that was once part of the old shade house. He chattered to me - although what he was talking about is a mystery. He is a delight. 
He has done the same to the Senior Cat. Neither of us have known a wagtail to be this "friendly" before.
We are fortunate to have a wide variety of bird life around here. It ranges from the usual pigeons, magpies and sparrows to the mynah birds, honey eaters and lorikeets interspersed with the screeching cockatoos and galahs and the almost silent ravens.
The local cats don't seem to be particularly interested. They are much more likely to sit on the fence and tease the neighbouring chihuahua. Our cat owning neighbours are responsible though. They feed their cats well and keep them in at night. 
So, it bodes well for our little willy wagtail. But there is only one of him. He doesn't seem to have a partner. I hope he has one somewhere else.

No comments: