ONE of a pair of willie wagtails nesting near the bird hide at Edithvale wetlands has rewritten the record books.
Numbers on a metal band on the bird’s leg showed it had been wearing the band for nearly 11 years, making it the oldest recorded willie wagtails.
Birdlife Australia’s Andrew Silcocks banded the bird 10 years, 10 months and eight days before it was photographed feeding chicks at the Edithvale nest.
The previous record for a willie wagtail was held by a willie wagtail in NSW that was “resighted” after nine years and seven months.
Friends of Edithvale and Seaford Wetlands member Peter Murphy said the band on the record-setting wagtail was noticed in January by visitors watching the birds tending a nest near the bird hide.
“On Friday 20 January it was noticed that a doting pair of willie wagtails had built their spider web-constructed nest very near to the entrance of the bird hide,” Murphy said.
“They seemed not to be fazed by bird hide visitors who marvelled at their constant care and attention to their three little chicks.
“This is a fairly common bird but is also very cute and familiar to us all with its joyous whistling call.”
Murphy said a photograph clearly showed the numbers on the bird band which, after being checked with the Australian Bird and Bat Banding scheme, a government department in Canberra, was found to the bird banded by Silcocks.
Details on the willie wagtails record show it was banded on 12 March 2012 with band number 037-26289 at an island in the Edithvale wetlands just south of bird hide. It had been born in 2011/12 season.
