The twitchy Willie Wagtail

This week’s featured bird is the Willie Wagtail, one of Australia's most widespread species. These birds are constantly active and vocal, behaviours which led them to feature prominently in Indigenous lore. For example the Bangerang call them Guritcha, meaning that they loiter at the edge of camps, listening to conversations then spreading the “gossip” elsewhere. Locally they are still found on or near farms and larger house gardens and their call is well-known, often being uttered constantly throughout moonlit nights, and is interpreted as "sweet-pretty-creature" call. The Willie Wagtail is the largest, and most well-known, of the Australian fantails. The plumage is black above with a white belly. The Willie Wagtail can be distinguished from other similar-sized black and white birds by its black throat and white eyebrows and whisker marks. The name wagtail stems from the constant sideways wagging of the tail. Young birds resemble the adults, but have paler, slightly rusty edges to the feathers of the wings Willie Wagtails are found in most open habitats, especially open forests, woodlands and large gardens with a mix of grass, trees and shrubs. They tend to be absent from our tall mountain forests. Willie Wagtails are active feeders with birds constantly darting around lawns as they hunt for insects on the ground. As they do so, the tail is wagged from side to side, used to disturb winged insects into flight where they can be captured in the air, in active chases. On farms they are often seen riding on the back of livestock from where they sally forth to catch flying insects disturbed by the animals grazing activities. The Willie Wagtail's nest is a neatly woven cup of grass, secured with spider's web on the outside and lined internally with soft grasses, hair or fur. The soft lining of the nest, if not readily available, is often collected directly from an animal. Nests are normally placed on a horizontal branch of a tree or large shrub and even on human structures. The cream-coloured eggs, speckled with grey and brown are incubated by both sexes. The young birds stay with their parents until the eggs from the next clutch start to hatch when they are driven away. If conditions are favourable, the couple may raise several clutches in a single season. Next time you get the chance to just sit and observe Willie Wagtail take the time to watch them closely as their antics and constant movement are thoroughly entertaining.

The twitchy Willie Wagtail

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