Grey warblers in territorial disputes

Louise from Woburn

There have been some epic grey warbler/riroriro (Gerygone igata) battles in the back garden the past couple of weeks – well, as epic as it gets for something that weighs in at 6g. What I assume are three males have been wittering away and chasing each other around quite a small area when they disagree about who won the singing competition – little flashes of aerodynamic grey fluff battling for supremacy of the Acer palmatum conveniently sandwiched between a camellia, a kowhai, and a robust trellis covered in potato vine they seem to like climbing in. Having grey warblers in permanent residence here in Woburn, Lower Hutt is quite new (at least in my garden), with them only having turned up earlier this year. I hope they don’t exhaust themselves before they get to do any actual courting. This was taken last week, but they have started up again today after a temporary cease fire during the bad weather. Fingers crossed they nest here.

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