Striated Thornbills - Song and nest building
31BIBY TV is delighted to present these rarely captured scenes of Striated Thornbills (Acanthiza lineata). The footage and audio were collected and produced by Vicki Powys, who exclusively owns all rights to this video. Vicki resides in the stunning Capertee Valley, which is recognised internationally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and is listed in the top 50 places for birdwatching in the world. What an ideal location for this conservationist, citizen scientist and renowned wildlife sound recordist. Here she uses her skills to showcase the lovely song of the male Striated Thornbill and the captivating process of nest construction. For more information on Striated Thornbills and how this wonderful film was made please read Vicki’s description below.
“Striated Thornbills forage for insects high in the forest canopy in south-eastern Australia. Small groups and pairs keep in contact using high-pitched single notes that sound somewhat metallic to my ear, like two coins being tapped together. The song is poorly documented, other than being described in the literature as "a short sweet song" and "a very quiet high trill". A neat domed nest is suspended from a small branch and well hidden within foliage, taking ten or more days to build.
I observed a breeding pair of Striated Thornbills in Capertee Valley, NSW, during the spring of 2020. Several nests were built in the foliage of Acacia cheelii; two of those nests were destroyed in storms and rebuilding had begun almost immediately. I suspect the female did most or all of the building, but with identical plumage for both sexes I could not prove my theory. It is known that only the female incubates, and while she was sitting inside the nest, the male would periodically give a high-pitched and far-carrying song for minutes at a time. The male's beak was wide open while giving this song, as can be seen in the video. A sonogram shows the song pitch going up to 10 kilohertz, much higher than most other birdsong, and possibly beyond the hearing of some older folk.
This video and observations were made by Vicki Powys in Capertee Valley, NSW, in dry woodland habitat on private property that has been covenanted to protect nature. Filming was done with a Lumix pocket camera (DMC-TZ80), edited in Quicktime and iMovie on an iMac computer. Additional audio was recorded with an Olympus LS10 recorder.”