Noisy Friarbird showing off its featherless black head and knobby bill, plus red eyes and neck ruff. Photo: Ian Fraser.
Soon one of our noisier (non-human) annual visitors will be heading north for the winter and the south east will be a quieter place for it.
Noisy Friarbirds are large honeyeaters and yes, undeniably noisy. The best I can describe it in words is a sort of shrieking croaking gobble, though to be fair they do have a few more melodious chiming notes at times too.
They were present and obvious in the Sydney colony right from its establishment and were among the first east coast birds to get an English name. David Collins, who arrived with the first fleet and became judge-advocate for the colony, referred in 1798 to ‘Wir-gan, Bird named by us the Friar’ in the glossary for his An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales.
Governor Hunter had already referred to ‘a bird called Fryar’ five years earlier but didn’t mention that the name had been bestowed on the spot. It refers, somewhat mockingly, to the bird’s totally bald black head. Another very evident characteristic is the strange leathery knob on top of the bill, with fierce red eyes and feathery ruff around the neck.
This lack of head feathers is shared by birds which feed with their heads in unpleasant situations where feathers would be fouled, such as ibis (in mud) and vultures (in carcases).
In the case of the friarbirds, the problem is a more attractive one, at least from our perspective. Nearly all of the other 17 species of friarbird live in the tropics, in northern Australia and on islands to the north. Here they feed primarily in big nectar-rich flowers, whose sugary juices would soon matt their head feathers.
Noisy Friarbird with a cicada that it took some time to subdue. Photo: Ian Fraser.
This is also why all Noisy Friarbirds fly north for winter after breeding here, unlike Red Wattlebirds, a honeyeater of similar size and habits, many of which stay here through the frosty months.
The friarbirds would simply lose too much heat through those bare heads, and in the absence of friarbird beanies, they would have to depart for warmer places.
They return here in spring, raucously of course, and turn up in flocks where eucalypts or other large native plants are flowering, competing aggressively with the wattlebirds. They don’t seem to come into backyards as often as the wattlebirds do but can be regularly seen and heard in flowering street trees, especially ironbarks. They scatter to breed in pairs, which are maintained from season to season. This seems to be unusual among songbirds, though that might be a reflection of our lack of knowledge.
The nest is beautifully woven of bark and hung between twigs or in a flat fork in a branch, or hidden inside a clump of leaves, especially in a eucalypt or paperbark or in a mistletoe within the foliage. I find it interesting that they go to such trouble to hide it as they are fierce defenders of it and can do some damage to real or perceived intruders.
In fact, other smaller birds (especially Leaden Flycatchers) often nest nearby for protection.
Noisy Friarbird nest (with fluffy chicks) hanging from twigs among eucalypt foliage. Photo: Ian Fraser.
In addition to eating nectar, they also sit out on branches and dive out after flying insects; they are especially eager predators of Christmas Beetles (or they were when the beetles were still common here) and cicadas in a good year. Insects are an especially valuable food source when they’re feeding chicks.
The Noisy Friarbird’s in-your-face character has earned it an unusual number of English common names over the past couple of centuries, perhaps the most widespread of which, still often used today, is Leatherhead. Others include Knobby Nose for the adornment on the bill, and Monk, an alternative to Friar. The weird calls have inspired people to coin names that supposedly represent them, such as Four O’Clock, Pimlico, and Poor Soldier, plus combinations of these.
Whatever we call them, the friarbirds will be back and noisy when spring returns. I for one will be welcoming them.
Ian Fraser is a Canberra naturalist, conservationist and author. He has written on all aspects of natural history, advised the ACT Government on biodiversity and published multiple guides to the region’s flora and fauna.
Original Article published by Ian Fraser on Riotact.
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