Making a family

Young Male Blue Wren (Superb Fairy Wren)

Looking at the Choughs in my last post made me think about the breeding season for our local birds. Unfortunately it is winter here and the wrong time to be observing these behaviours; too early even for courting as far as I have seen. 

There is still evidence around of the past seasons - young birds growing in to their adult plumage and nests in all shapes and sizes.

Wren? or Thornbill? nest - as it had been abandoned and the eggs undeveloped it is hard to know which species it belongs too. Only the scale narrows it down as these are really small.

Most of our local parrots and cockatoos nest in hollows in standing dead trees like the ones you can see in the paddocks in these images. We can see who is going in and out, but not what goes on inside. Although this year I am contemplating trying to get a closer look but enlisting the aid of my husband's quadcopter with inbuilt camera.

I'd also like to see if anyone comes back to this nest as I don't know who built it.

We did have some obvious successes last season. The Raven pair raised three chicks to adulthood, and the Magpies raised two. The Choughs had a few, as did the Wrens. As none of the other species appear to be in decline, I assume they are breeding too, just not as easy to observe. Although I think these youngsters are taking advantage of their mother; they are as big as she is and still begging for food... 

Then there are the Swallows... I didn't mention them in my species list as they seem too far removed from a native natural species as they seem too reliant upon human created environments. Still they raised too many chicks to fit in their normal roosting spot and have taken up residence in the carport over my car...

The messy mud nest of a Welcome Swallow - would be more welcome not above my laundry door.

So what would a dinosaur nest be like? Perhaps some dinosaurs might make nests off the ground, but this would be difficult for most of them. Did they sit on their eggs to keep them warm like most birds do? Perhaps for some species - we have found fossil nests and eggs. The Oviraptor (meaning egg thief) was a dinosaur discovered alongside a nest of eggs believed to have belonged to another species - Protoceratops. Thus it was thought to be stealing the eggs and so was named for that fact. Later another fossil specimen was discovered over a nest of the same type of eggs, but these had fossils of baby Oviraptors inside them... Thus it was actually nurturing and protecting its eggs rather than stealing them to eat. 

A 75 tonne sauropod (long necked, like Brachiosaurus) is very unlikely to have sat upon her nest - as it would squash under the weight. So either there was no parental care, or it was done without brooding the eggs, perhaps in the manner of Mallee Fowl or Lyrebirds.