Meet the friendly mudlark that inhabits the parks. I have a habit of calling them peewees, my nanna calls them butcher birds (which is WRONG! I have told her many times but shes stubborn), their correct name is a mudlark. I say this guy is friendly, in reality he just looks out for us gardeners and flies down to join us as it usually means an easy meal, as we turn the grubs out of the ground and make them easier to spot. This one is a boy. I know this as he has 'eyebrows'. Male mudlarks have a patch of white feathers above their eyes that look like eyebrows, the females dont have this trait at all. I think he looks pretty peeved in this photo as he was putting on a show for me and I wasnt paying attention. He must have a lovely lady up in a tree near to where I was working and was afraid I was after his nest, so he was acting all injured. He spread his wings, puffed himself up and spread out on the ground. He then proceeded to flop himself along the ground, trying to encourage me to chase him or at least come closer (ie, further from the nest). When I ignored him and just kept weeding, he fixed me with this look, got up and walked away. Seemed to me he was quite disgusted that I didnt acknowledge his acting skills. Drama Queen.
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