Gatekeepers and fence sitters

 

This post will be mostly about our farm birds but also a bit about those idioms. It also rings true right now as I am starting a site visit for veterinary school accreditation. That is definitely part of the gate keeping process! 

Gatekeepers have various repercussions, depending on the topic, but are generally considered to be a person or thing that controls access. This could be access to a place, a person, a resource or information. In that line, most of our birds are not truly gate keepers. The jacky-winters on the gate above are not restricting anyone. They are part of the robin family and seem very peaceable. Ditto for this scarlet robin female:

However, the magpies below are a bit more threatening. If we go back to the social psychology roots of the term, Kurt Lewin used it study how social groups filter and manage choices. These three are definitely a social group. 

As we head into spring in the southern hemisphere, we are now down to two magpies. Our best guess is the third was offspring and has now been sent off to find their own social group. Most days we only see one magpie at a time; we are assuming the other is on the nest. Magpies can get violent during breeding season and young chick season. Their swooping and aggressive attacks peak Sept/Oct in this area so those riding helmets may come in handy. Good news - they typically attack fast moving targets and that ain't us these days. You can check for local warnings on the magpie alert map

As of this writing, we are still in a clear zone:

The yellow birds on the map indicate swoops while the red indicate swoop related injuries. 

Most of our birds are fence sitters rather than gate keepers.  In general, fence sitters either can't make up their minds on which side to join or are poised and ready to quickly join the winning side. This term has several origin stories. The story I like refers to the presidential campaign between Grover Cleveland and James Blaine. Apparently Blaine had a history of corruption so some Republicans joined the Democrats. This group was called "mugwumps". The term likely came from a Native American word meaning "war leader"; however, the people using it to refer to those Republicans were supposedly referring to birds on a fence - "mug" on one side and "wump" on the other. A foot in each camp, in other words. I think it was just plain brave of them, to be honest. 

I think most of our birds are looking for food. This grey shrike thrush is definitely focused on something in the garden, 

This willie wagtail was potentially gate keeping, even though on the fence. 

The wagtails seem to like to herd the thornbills (below). Goes with the border collie coloring? 

The scarlet robins are fence sitting on their choice of gate or fence....

The kookaburras are not usually afraid of much and have been working to control our lizard population. This bird was right next to me on the fence by the tomatoes. The kookaburras have also migrated to the formal garden (more hiding holes for the lizards?)

We are worried about what will happen as avian influenza hits Australia for the first time. So many creatures are unique to the area that no one is sure what will happen other than decimation of seals and water birds. Fingers crossed. Probably good we didn't get the chicken shed ready for occupants yet. 

Will leave you with one last set of gates - the ones at the base of the drive. They are on a solar powered closing system but it isn't currently working. The only time they are closed is when the sheep are on the loose. Scott calls these the Gates of Ostentation. A bit more ornate that our usual taste!

And one last fence sitter - a male king parrot. Not a common fence sitter but he did stop by last summer!