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tired With all this netting the boss has had us doing, and
having been supplanted from my cosy position in the car as chief bird
handler, this week past has been punctuated with me getting myself
bitten by various cranky birds that have unwittingly become tangled in
our nets. And getting bramble thorns embedded in my skin, but that's
another story. Bloody brambles!
So, as I'm not in parks this field season and do therefore not have to
endure public displays of park passion, I have decided instead to note
the species of small birds that attempt to cause me pain for trying to
free them from the mist net. Incidentally, it's quite funny seeing how
birds deal with being caught in a mist net. Before you appear to get
them out, often they just dangle there in mid-air, wondering what
happened to the air and why they suddenly can't fly in it anymore.
Anyway, back to the point of this post. To document the pain I endure for science!
On Wednesday this week I was bitten by a variety of birds. While I was
manning a net alone four birds flew into it. A brown thornbill took
every opportunity to snap its beak shut on my fingers. Brown thornbills
weigh less than 10 grams and are a very small bird. Their beaks do not
hurt very much when they bite you. I don't know why they bother. The
Eastern spinebill had more luck deterring me with its sharp claws that
feel like small pins. It also tried to peck me a couple of times.
Spinebills have a long, curved honeyeater beak that is not suited to
biting. But apparently they can still peck if they have a chance to
line themselves up. The firetail also bit me a few times. It hurt more.
Even though they are not much bigger than a thornbill, they have stout
beaks for crushing grass seeds. Still, not very painful.
On Thursday, I was bitten by another unlucky firetail. I was also
bitten by a weebill, which was comical, as weebills are the smallest
bird in Australia and, true to their name, they have wee little bills
that certainly do not hurt. Still, you have to admire their pluckiness,
the cute little things. And a new Holland honeyeater tried to bite me,
but failed because I was able to avoid it. It did dig its sharp little
claws into me, though, which hurt a good deal more than anything a bird
that size can inflict on me with its beak.
And on Friday we only caught two birds and they were fairy-wrens, which
is the species we work on. Wrens do bite on occasion, but they seem
less inclined to do that and more inclined to just shout curses at you.
November 13 2005, 01:12:09 UTC 6 years ago
http://www.mapleglen.co.nz/pics/birds/y
from http://www.mapleglen.co.nz/birds.ht
February 20 2006, 04:40:38 UTC 6 years ago