The striated pardalote - a cute Australian bird with a short tail

@JudyEv (342077)
Rockingham, Australia
December 12, 2021 1:17am CST
I put up a photo of a little bird coming out of a hanging basket. It and its partner have made their nest inside in the patio area of my brother-in-law’s house. The bird is a striated pardalote (Pardalotus striatus). This photo is courtesy Fir0002, GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons and what a great photo it is. As you can see, the bird is a mix of neutral colours with some black and yellow thrown in. They feed on insects and insect larvae and the ones I watched flitted back and forth over and over making me feel sure they were feeding babies. They lay 2 to 5 white eggs either in a tree hollow, a tunnel excavated in the side of a bank or within crevices in man-made objects, as these two have done. Both incubate and care for the young. I’m sure my brother-in-law will be watching closely hoping to see the young birds emerge.
14 people like this
16 responses
@crossbones27 (49723)
• Mojave, California
12 Dec 21
Nice looking little hard workers there. Very cool pic. Sounds like a neat little bird.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
Birds can be hard to photograph. The photographer got a great shot with this.
2 people like this
• Mojave, California
12 Dec 21
@JudyEv Hell yeah they did. Is that someone you know who took took that you said brother in law maybe him. Very cool and I always love the eyes of any animal. Windows to the soul and that bird just has a neat eye look like I live my life right.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
@crossbones27 Credit is given in the first para: This photo is courtesy Fir0002, GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (472097)
• Switzerland
12 Dec 21
This is a pretty bird, I would like to see the babies coming out from the pot too.
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@LadyDuck (472097)
• Switzerland
13 Dec 21
@JudyEv - Animals seem to know when we are not around.
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Dec 21
@LadyDuck That's true but the parents seem to be used to people and went in and out quite unworried.
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
They would have to sit in the doorway and just take off and hope for the best.
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@just4him (317242)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
12 Dec 21
It's a beautiful bird. I hope he sees them emerge.
1 person likes this
@just4him (317242)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
12 Dec 21
@JudyEv I'm sure you would. Do you know how long they sit on the eggs?
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
@just4him I don't know exactly but I think between ten days and two weeks.
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
I think I'd be sitting there keeping a 24-hour watch. Well, maybe a 12-hour one as I don't suppose they'd fly out at night.
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@Ronrybs (19585)
• London, England
12 Dec 21
A handsome little fellow. We get some finches nesting in front and they can be quite noisy!
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
Some little bodies can certainly make a lot of noise. Do you know what sort of finches they are?
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@Ronrybs (19585)
• London, England
14 Dec 21
@JudyEv The only ones I can remember are wag tails, not sure if they are actually finches, and blue finches. There are a couple of others, but I can't recall the names
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@Ronrybs (19585)
• London, England
16 Dec 21
@JudyEv Total opportunists!
1 person likes this
@CarolDM (203422)
• Nashville, Tennessee
12 Dec 21
It is a cute little bird. I to enjoy watching the babies.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
We had a little family of willy wagtails nest on our verandah one spring. They gave us a lot of pleasure.
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Dec 21
@CarolDM They do bring a lot of pleasure. I miss our birdbaths very much.
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@CarolDM (203422)
• Nashville, Tennessee
12 Dec 21
@JudyEv I watch the birds each year as you know.
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
12 Dec 21
as always - awesome picture!!! what an interesting bird. I suspect they don't fly long distances?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
They would have a limited territory I think. Not that I know for sure.
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Dec 21
@DocAndersen That makes sense. Good thinking.
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@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
13 Dec 21
@JudyEv interesting - birds with shorter tails tend towards shorter flights, the tail feathers help when working with wind! (more stability)!
1 person likes this
@allen0187 (58582)
• Philippines
12 Dec 21
I'm sure your brother-in-law is excited to see the new young birds.
1 person likes this
@allen0187 (58582)
• Philippines
12 Dec 21
@JudyEv nice to know.
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
He has several bird baths too and gets a lot of birds visiting his gardens. I'm sure he will let us know when the little ones start to fly.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
12 Dec 21
A very cute bird indeed! And hopefully not as much trouble causing or filth causing as our daily visiting pigeons who seem to have outnumbered almost all other birds like Mynahs, Sparrows etc.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
12 Dec 21
@JudyEv Till a few years back, we used to be joyous at watching them. Now they are becoming almost like pests. We had to spend on Nets in two places due to the mess they created and might need even one more.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
13 Dec 21
@JudyEv And Pigeon netting has become a business by itself here.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
I'm not at all fond of pigeons. They are in the inner city areas but I haven't seen them around here much. They do make a horrible mess.
1 person likes this
@averygirl72 (37845)
• Philippines
16 Dec 21
This is a cute bird. I like the it's white color with accent of yellow and black
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 Dec 21
They are quite pretty really.
@wolfgirl569 (108144)
• Marion, Ohio
12 Dec 21
It is a pretty little bird
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
Some of the tiny birds are quite colourful.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (181642)
• United States
12 Dec 21
What a cute, cute bird.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
I love his stubby little tail.
1 person likes this
@Rashnag (30592)
• Surat, India
12 Dec 21
It's such a cute bird with vibrant colours. Glad to know about it
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
Thanks. I think it is cute too.
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@Rashnag (30592)
• Surat, India
13 Dec 21
1 person likes this
@Babino (5759)
• Morocco
12 Dec 21
That bird is so cute, your brother is lucky to be able to see it and hear his voice every now and then.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
He is very fond of the birds that visit his garden.
@ThatDisha (4010)
• India
12 Dec 21
Adorable
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
He looks big here but he is actually very tiny.
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@ThatDisha (4010)
• India
13 Dec 21
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (51588)
• Canada
12 Dec 21
Your post reminded me of JJ, he was so informed on many different types of birds. Its a pretty bird, we don't have any around here that look like that.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
It is a very small bird but just as attractive as the bigger ones. I miss JJs posts. I loved hearing about his cats.
1 person likes this
@Icydoll (36717)
• India
12 Dec 21
I love watching birds. striated pardalote is very cute
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
I loved the birds that came to our bird baths when we had them. I don't recall seeing this little one though.
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