What is building this nest...???

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
robutacion

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Hi peoples,

A few days ago I notice a nest start to be built just next to my bandsaw, where I work on almost everyday for ours on end, I know that it wasn't there the day before as I used one of the jigs that is now partially covered with this nest.

I normally only work in the work-shop afternoons and evenings so and looking at the amount of grass and other stuff, I knew that all that was done either through the night or, in the morning...!

001.JPG

I wondered what wanted to built a nest in such noisy place, dusty and with me working around it, all of the time..???
Was it a bird, what is some sort of rodent...??? it has to be of considerable size to built a nest that size and carry so much material in a short period of time. I didn't wanted it there as I use the jigs all the time so I grabbed the grass and stuff and throw it in the rubbish box, just inside of the entrance of the main shed, about 3 yards away, thinking that would be the end of that...!

I couldn't be more wrong, whatever was building that nest, wanted it built there, regardless so, the next day when I went to the work-shop, I couldn't believe my eyes, the nest was back and this time with twice of the material...!:eek: I went and had a look at the rubbish bin and yes, you guessed it, the stuff I throw in there was all gone and back in the nest...!

What in the hell was so determined to built the nest there, there was no "privacy" or hidden away as most creatures require so, I was puzzled...!

What ever it was, was either nocturnal or early morning type creature so, was only one way to find out and that was put a video recorder with motion sensor in there, the problem was that, if the creature was nocturnal I needed some night vision and the camera I've got doesn't have infra-red so, I decided to use the working light of the bandsaw to swing it around and illuminate the area, through the night.

002.JPG 003.JPG 004.JPG

Next day, I deliberately waited for after lunch time (the normal time I start working in there) but, I didn't see any sights of anything different, that is, the light being on (100w) may have scared the creature no, checking the camera, there was no movement/video recorded.

Anyway, I re-arranged the video set-up and got it all ready for that evening/next morning, I did in fact caught the culprit and have it on video, I wanted to make sure I had the "evidence" before I would start this thread, as I like to work with facts so, I will reveal what is/was making this nest but, in the mean time, I would like you to have a careful look at the nest, that was still being built when I took that pic, (second day of the find) and see you you can guess who the culprit is...???:wink::wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
Last edited:
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Well , many of the fibers appear to be from a woven HDPE or polypropylene bag or canvas , and are at least 2 feet long . That implies a fair bit of manual , beak or paw dexterity . Therefore , my best guess is that it was constructed by a somnambulating jorgeraticus . Be very very careful . He might try to do you some harm .
 
Snipes prefer thier nests closer to water.

Most of the feral snipes do like thier nests to be 4-5 feet above ground.

(At least the ones we had in Arizona did)
 
One morning you will come in to the shed and be a Grandpa!

Better cover everything for a while George :umbrella: or your stuff will be sporting a coating of poop. Customs is pretty good about letting in wood but we have enough poop already. It's spilling out of the House of Commons as it is and you know how much they hate competition. :rolleyes:
 
Are you sure it isn't a spider? The spider would have the dexterity to build such a trap. Don't fool yourself into thinking it's just a "nest!"

i-PzKrzHr.jpg


:biggrin:
 
Looks dangerous. I am sure it is drawn to those bowl blanks you have stacked there. Better send them to me so you are no longer tormented by this nasty creature.
 
1 more guess..

Since you made a point of saying look closely...the skylight open or is that a teaser? I can't see a bird other than a emu or other total clutz building something in such a incongruous location..but NOT an expert on flora or fauna of my favorite bucket list destination...Alaska being next:biggrin:
 
Hi peoples,

Not so fast, not so fast...! I'm enjoying all these interesting answers so, I will leave it another day before the veil is unveiled...!:smile:

Some great "imaginations" in this place, I'm however in the position to eliminate some of the suggestions presented.

The first one is that, the wife has nothing to do with this thing however, she has a funny sense of humour, warped...??? maybe, I never noticed...!:biggrin:

Koala bears and tree kangaroos are far too big in this case, and these creatures do not built nests, they have pouches to carry their young...!:wink:

Those white long fibres come from a white type cloth/tarp that I use to stop the weather going in in some of the wood storage sheds (covering the front), the wind breaks the ends of this material that comes out in long strips, all the nest building material seem to be local so no "imports" in this case.

As for the "somnambulating jorgeraticus" that creature is harmless unless provoked, I have no intentions to make him mad...!

Poop coating...! oh yeah, I know that one, we are having a national election tomorrow 7/9/13, do you think that I wouldn't know what you mean...???
As for the competition about it, is free stuff so, wouldn't that complement the "Aussie" significance...???:biggrin:

Rabbits and or hares, are food/tacker in this household, and they don't offer themselves that easy to me, I have to work hard to get them...!:smile:

Spider "trap"...??? could be, I've seen lots of strange things around here...!:biggrin:

Tormenting nasty creature attracted buy all those round blanks...???? yeah, sure, I know those, they have 2 legs and are far too big to built such a nest, I know, I get a lot of those "creatures" coming around, all attracted by all the blanks...!:eek:

"Whodonit's", those vicious mammals, may be getting ready for Winter, the problems is, our Summer just started 6 days ago...!:wink:

I sometimes "see" things that may or not be there but an "Emu"...??? and there I was thinking that I was bad...!!! glad that I'm not alone...!:eek::biggrin:

I can actually say that, the creature is not "native" to Australia, I had these creatures back in the country that I was born in (Portugal), I was very familiar with them as a everyday thing however, since I moved to Australia 26 years ago, I never say one since, until I moved to South Australia and to this particular area, where I saw them again, after all those long years.

I wouldn't mind to see the nest being occupied with a young generation, I would be most careful to protect the creatures but, I do not believe that the nest builder will complete its job, I think it will realize that may have not been, a smart decision, unfortunately...!:smile:

Cheers
George
 
Last edited:
Your wife is "with child", and your fathering instinct took over the other half of your split personality, being compelled to do some nesting (when the part of your personality that sent this thread was not in the shop). How do both of you look on video?

That was easy. What is my prize?

Steve
 
SteveG said:
Your wife is "with child", and your fathering instinct took over the other half of your split personality, being compelled to do some nesting (when the part of your personality that sent this thread was not in the shop). How do both of you look on video?

That was easy. What is my prize?

Steve
Click to expand...

Prize...???:eek: with such a response, you would be lucky of not getting a smack up your nose...! however, I have been called a lot worse than that...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
George! them cheeky little buggers (blackbirds}i have them here at home,and they love the 30 plus pine trees i have,when there nesting they work really hard they will steal/make do with anything they can find and move that will stitch together there nest bits of plastic string, the nest your showing looks the same.
 
I was at a horse show and watched a young mockingbird building a nest, mostly from horsehair. He was building it in the end of one of the steel roof rafters. He came out of the rafter, and a piece of horsehair was tangled in his tail feathers, so he pulled the whole nest out. He landed on the bleachers near me, and kept going in circles, trying to catch the nest, which, of course moved when he did. (sort of like a dog chasing his tail.) He kept spinning in circles until he fell off the end of the bleachers. The fall finally dislodged the nest. I laughed so hard I almost fell out of the bleachers, too.
 
sbwertz said:
I was at a horse show and watched a young mockingbird building a nest, mostly from horsehair. He was building it in the end of one of the steel roof rafters. He came out of the rafter, and a piece of horsehair was tangled in his tail feathers, so he pulled the whole nest out. He landed on the bleachers near me, and kept going in circles, trying to catch the nest, which, of course moved when he did. (sort of like a dog chasing his tail.) He kept spinning in circles until he fell off the end of the bleachers. The fall finally dislodged the nest. I laughed so hard I almost fell out of the bleachers, too.
Click to expand...

I would have loved to see that. Lol
 
Hi peoples,

I certainly had some fun with some of the comments given, sbwertz's story is hilarious...!:biggrin:

John was infact correct, there is a pair of Blackbirds that is/was (not sure yet) building that nest.

The video footage did reveal the culprit but, the very early hours of the morning, these creatures become active, didn't do much for the pour quality camera image, in low light conditions however, I had a couple of other short clips where, was a little more light so I decided to take a snap shot of both the male (all black, bright yellow beak) and the female, dark brown chest with white spots and not as bright yellow beak) interestingly, both male and female have a black mark at the end of their beaks...!

Will she lay any eggs in there...??? will see...!

I will keep you posted...!

Thank you everyone, for your participation.

What did make the nest - YouTube

Cheers
George
 

Attachments

  • 9-7-2013_001.jpg
    9-7-2013_001.jpg
    36.4 KB · Views: 246
  • 9-7-2013_005.jpg
    9-7-2013_005.jpg
    42.9 KB · Views: 240
So now the question is how were they getting into your shop?
Open window? Hole in the wall? Under the door?
Please let us know so we can avoid the nesting in our shops.

Just giving you a little crap in IAP style.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom