Red Wattlebird

RED Wattlebirds (Anthochaera carunculata) are large honeyeaters easily identified by their fleshy reddish wattle on the side of the neck and are part of the Honeyeater family.

They live across southern Australia and are more frequent visitors to towns and suburbs in winter when they migrate in search of winter food.

They love to drink the nectar from flowers but they will also eat some insects and can be very aggressive towards other birds that have their eye on the same flowers.

Look out for Red Wattlebirds poking around under your eaves and gutters for spiders to take back to their chicks in the nest.

Red Wattlebirds can be difficult to see when they’re hiding amongst shrubs and bushes so listen for the loud, harsh ‘cookey cook’ and ‘tobacco box, tobacco box’ calls - they sound quite like the Noisy Friar Bird.

If you want to encourage Red Wattlebirds to your garden, plant nectar-producing plants.

Grevilleas and paperbarks (melaleucas) provide some of the Red Wattlebird’s favourite food.

Bottlebrushes and other native trees are winter flowering natives, providing much needed food at this cold time of year and your wattlebirds will not let any of their nectar go to waste.

Starting their families does not only come with noisy announcements, you may also find that the wattlebirds become more aggressive in defending their nest sites and territories.

Like all native birds, the wattlebirds are protected, and there is not much you can do to discourage them from a favourite food tree.