PARDALOTE STRIATED 

Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus

 

One can always find pardalotes, no matter what the weather be. nor the time of year, at Kilmore East.

 

There is a colony which lives in, under and around a road bridge between Dry Creek Road and the Wandong-Broadford Road. Under this bridge are mud fairy martin nests and this is where the pardalotes lay their eggs and bring up their young.

 

 

 

 

At this time they re nesting. Both male and female appear to be feeding the young. One or other will approach the nest, landing on a tree branch five to ten metres out from the nest and chirp. Perhaps this is to make sure everything is clear, perhaps it is an attempt to make the nest site a little obscure for any watcher, or perhaps it is just a way of letting the mate know they are on the way.

 

 

 

Whilst pardalotes are known for living in holes in the banks of creeks, I have only ever seen these in and around the martin nests. No martins in these nests, although they are about the area. Have the pardalotes dislocated the martins?  I have no idea where the martins  nest now. 

At other times of the year the birds appear to be living in the scrubby growth along the creek. As soon as one approaches the site, the birds can be heard chirruping to each other. They are not timid at all about having someone with a camera, standing within a short distance, watching what they are dong. They are often sitting  their pairs, often in groups of ten or a dozen.