The Latham friarbird

What the OP saw as swooping may have just been the birds hawking for insects. Then again, maybe not.

These guys are seriously bad.

They sit on my fence and berate my cats and if the cats don’t get the hint they get dive bombed.

Awesome bird.

Wow, what kind of cat’s do you have? You must feed them very well.

One of these birds started to taunt and dive bomb my Burmese a few years ago. The bird ended up neatly placed on my doormat covered in it’s own blood. Not a good idea to tease and taunt a feline if you are a bird. A feline’s biology is perfectly constructed to destroy any bird quickly and efficiently.

Swooped? Don’t these guys just loiter in the general vicinity and make a hell of a racket until the point is taken?

TheDancingDjinn said :

qbninthecity said :

Felix the Cat said :

What an ugly looking bird!

Felix the Cat – Ugly is subjective and I’m sure you aren’t exactly the most attractive looking person around btw

+ Elenenty Billion – the bird looks great kinda like a mini vulture – which are such beautiful birds i think.

Not sure I’d call the bird beautiful DancingDjinn, but agreed that it looks a bit like a mini vulture. I would call said bird “regal”

qbninthecity said :

Felix the Cat said :

What an ugly looking bird!

Felix the Cat – Ugly is subjective and I’m sure you aren’t exactly the most attractive looking person around btw

+ Elenenty Billion – the bird looks great kinda like a mini vulture – which are such beautiful birds i think.

Never seen one of these, and I’ve lived in Latham, but it looks like a velociraptor with wings .. freakin awesome!

Felix the Cat said :

What an ugly looking bird!

Felix the Cat – Ugly is subjective and I’m sure you aren’t exactly the most attractive looking person around btw

poetix said :

It’s the Noisy Mormonbirds who knock on doors that are the real worry.

You need to turn the hose on them. I hang with a lot of LDS in Utah when I’m there, and if upon hearing that I’m Australian they light up and declare that they were on mission here, I ask how often they got the hose treatment. Or the dogs. and it’s funny how often they deflate and start trying to gloss over it. Their friends and family then look puzzled, as they’ve not been favoured with an account of this part of their friend/relative’s experience “down under”.

It’s really important that we expose them to this rich cultural experience.

And oddly enough, if you want to avoid being prosletysed by Mormons, the safest place in the world is… Utah.

poetix said :

These birds used to be common in the inner north but you don’t see them so much any more. They have an unusual cry.

It’s the Noisy Mormonbirds who knock on doors that are the real worry.

awww i love those mormonbirds – with the nice black and white colouring and the mark that looks like a tie – so nice and such a friendly bird – but if you pay attention to them, they might never leave you alone.

These birds used to be common in the inner north but you don’t see them so much any more. They have an unusual cry.

It’s the Noisy Mormonbirds who knock on doors that are the real worry.