Australian Mudnester - Behaviour

Behaviour

In the field, the relationship between Choughs and Apostlebirds is immediately apparent: both species are highly social, spend much of their time foraging through leaf litter with a very distinctive gait, calling to one another almost constantly, and both species respond to a human interloper by flying heavily to a nearby tree, where they wait for the disturbance to pass, often perching close together in twos and threes and allopreening. In picnic grounds and parks these birds may become accustomed to humans and become very tame.

The social groups of mudnesters are based around a dominant male and female. The number of birds in the group may vary from two to twenty birds, six birds being typical in the White-winged Chough and seven to nine birds in the Apostlebird. Both species are non migratory and defend a territory during the breeding season. The size of the territory during the breeding season is around 20 ha, after the breeding season when the chicks are fledged the group may range over a larger territory. On the death of one of the dominant breeders the groups break up, and the remaining dominant bird will take immatures from their group and find a lone bird to form a new group. The majority of recruits into any group after its establishment are youngsters from previous breeding seasons. These helpers are important in breeding success, so much so that White-winged Choughs have been reported to kidnap nearly fledged chicks from other groups in order to increase the size of the kidnapping group.

As the common name of the family suggests, the nests are constructed out of mud. These bowl shaped nests take several days to construct, longer if supplies of mud dry up before the nest is finished. nests are built opportunistically when rain causes muddy puddles, and may be reused if possible. Around three to five oval eggs are laid in each clutch. These eggs are incubated for around twenty days by all members of the group, and feeding and brooding duties are also shared within the group. This family has a very long period of fledgling care, with full independence from the parents and helpers taking up to 200 days.