BIBY TV's video: Ready for my close-up Red Wattlebirds in the Capertee Valley

These Red Wattlebirds (Anthochaera carunculata) were mostly filmed in mid September 2019 in the Capertee Valley, NSW. Some of the feeding footage was collected in early October 2018. During both visits to the filming site – a rural property with extensive tree-planting and other habitat restoration – several Mugga Ironbarks were full of blossoms. It was honeyeater heaven as the flowering trees were next to two bird baths or ponds. Although these large, raucous and relatively common birds are easy to find when feeding on nectar and the occasional insect in the canopy, seeing them up close at a water source has us appreciating them anew. What handsome quirky birds! Note that another large vocal honeyeater – the Noisy Friarbird – can be heard around the 2.36 mark. Sometimes people new to bird identification confuse the calls of the two species. Hopefully this video and a Noisy Friarbird production filmed at the same location - https://youtu.be/er3xe6FO1ks - will make the differences clearer. Red Wattlebirds are named after their unusual fleshy flaps aka wattles. Juveniles have pale vestigial wattles, browner (rather than reddish) eyes and less yellow on their belly. Across apparently adult birds we have seen variation in wattle size, including in this video. Perhaps it is age-related as the vestigial wattle fills out across the bird’s first year. In any case, the sexes are similar. What is less clear is the function of these flaps. Indeed, the wattles of various birds have been described as “enigmatic ornaments”. Red Wattlebirds often make the Top Ten in the Aussie Bird Count (go to https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/ for more information on this annual October event) due to their abundance, flexibility in habitat (e.g. woodland, eucalypt forest, treed areas in farmland, parks and gardens) and recognisable features. To read more about this charismatic honeyeater visit http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Anthochaera-carunculata