Mr Foster Cheeky & Willy Wag Tales.

 Willy Wag Tales.

An experience based education of collected stories.

Image of Willy Wagtail on post.

I remember young my grandfather would whistle to these special little black and white birds and I swear they whistled back as they danced around his garden zipping here and there.

He called them Willy Wag tails, and they liked his pond for sure, he also called them cheeky little things and pointed out to me what happens if you go near their nest in springtime, the noise they make as they try to scare you away sort of sounds like -Cheeky Cheeky Cheek Cheek Cheek-. 

My other grandfather had a different take, first off he knew even though they will eat a few bread crumbs sometimes they actually mostly eat bugs, and great in the food garden, he also called them Cheeky and noted that they mate for life, his pair had been together for 4 years, and he fed them worms from the worm tub. His biggest point of respect for Willy Wagtails, apart from the monogamy was the way they would harass crows and magpies etc relentlessly withour fear. He figured they were tough little buggers and compared them to the Jack Russels of the sky.

The third man I learned from was a Ngarrindjeri elder on a scout camping week to the Coorong, near where I had family in Meningie. He agreed with the cheeky part but around the inland parts of his country the Willy Wag Tail was called a -ritjuruki, sort of pronounced - ridge eww roo key-, And he told me they considered it dangerous, it was a kidnapper spirit and a death bird, it was advised not to camp near any trees with them. He explained they would sing and dance and lure children away into the marshes or swampy wet sands, and toddlers unattended could follow them to an early grave or never be seen again.

Think like the Pied Piper, the birds dance and sing and flutter so a child will follow them.

He repeatedly cursed at them as we were hiking as part of the camp and chanted to keep us safe from them and we were also told to be aware of them, they remind us to always be vigilant and aware of our surroundings, We ranged in age from 12 to 16 so I think we were fairly safe but it was an interesting perspective and one worth learning. 

                             Willy Wagtail dancing display.

Since these times I had no willy wagtails at my first place, and limited interactions travelling, except to note they were very bold and often had no fear of human presence in some locations. 

In the west my Noongar friends and family had another story they called them DjitiDjiti, pronounced Chitty Chitty, This made sense as both my grandfathers were from the West or had spent time there so the reference to cheeky cheeky gained context.

It wasn't until after some fires on the Eyre peninsula in 2005 I was asleep, let me re-phrase that I was trying to sleep when this weird bird was whistling 1234 every 10 seconds or so, 1234, pause, 1234 It was driving me nuts.

Now keep in mind I had never slept near nesting Willy Wag Tails as per advice, so i did not know any of the following, all I could do was shout back -Shut up you stupid bird! which gave a whole minute before the chimes resumed.

So I am 24 years old thinking I know enough when I told my neighbour where I was camped and he told me that was a Willy Wag Tail, I didn't believe it, He showed me the nest and they went all Cheeky Cheeky and swooping while we were at it.

He was camped as close as I was and we ate and had a couple beers together until dark it started, the 1234 warble chorus. He explained its like the town bell criers of Ye Olde England etc, the bell would toll and cries would yell the time and ALL's WELL!

Except instead of every hour it was more like every 10 or 20 seconds.

I lay in bed and slept so much better that night the sound is almost the same cheeky cheeky just higher pitch, not so angry, and what was I even angry about, Little birds telling me everything is OK? Clearly I still have a lot to learn. Nice reminder.

                                             Grok image
This link has both songs, they typical song is also done all night during nesting season for a few weeks, the scratchy call is more of a warning.

https://wildambience.com/wildlife-sounds/willie-wagtail/?srsltid=AfmBOorSAUHiamabHhuUtmM8_PvVPy1a5bDXZWKlP_ynfxBft9xtQg_U

Soon after I moved into a new place, big storms for a while, then in spring would you believe it 1234. pause, 1234, I actually felt at home, checked and found the nest the day after the night they started, found the nest, and copped a swooping for the effort. 

The tree was about 10 mtrs away from my room on the other side of the rainwater tank.

It was an easy work around, but I resolved to build them a pond of sorts, and started with 2 plastic clam shells designed for toddlers to bath or play in, and the reference to tricky birds potentially drowning kids was not lost on me.

In such a dry environment though I could justify the risk, and I believe them thankful.

I know the pair bred at least 7 little ones over the next 5 years.

But wait, there is more to learn yet, one day I noticed the wagtails were gone, a week went by, I went out of my way to check the nest, I could not see or hear anything.

I figured Mr and Mrs Cheeky were gone, who knows why.

About 2 weeks later I saw a willy wag tail by the clam shells, so i topped them up, as I did the willy wagtail appeared and was cheepy cheepy, I just decided to follow it, and it was swooping around the ground, I noticed a sleepy lizard and thought stupid bird it's just a lizard then I saw it.

Less than 1mtr away from the lizard was the dried, almost mummified remains of a willy wag tail, and the other one sat right above me in the tree watching.

I walked away and began picking up some stones, I built a small 1 foot high cone shaped cairn over the remains.

I was into my 30's now, and the internet existed, I was sure one of the Willy Wagtails had died, and a quick search proved My grandfather was right, in that they almost always are monogamous and rarely had more than 1 breeding partner.

Then using information available I was able to figure out the male had survived.

He still had an awesome nest, but I could tell he was depressed, and my guess was he was only 6 or 7 years old, but they can live from 10 to 15 years.

To my surprise come spring he began to sing again, 1234, pause, 1234, pause 1234.

Why?

Ok so now I am old enough to know I don't know shit, I go to see the nest, has he got a new partner? No he is alone in his dive bombing and cheeky cheeky GF FOFF.

Mate why are you being such a dick if you don't even have anything in your nest?

Got my phone, went into the war zone held up camera recording video and got a bit of footage, then got out of there.

Upon review of the footage there were indeed 3 eggs in his nest, I spent the next day searching for a female, then it occurred to look up images of eggs.

They were not Willy Wag Tail eggs, and duh i had only ever seen them raise 2 in a good year twice, most years it was only 1.

3 eggs ? 

As soon as they hatched I discovered the culprits.

               The Yellow-Throated Miner bird.

Now some might take this the wrong way, but these birds will often remove and replace the eggs of other birds in order to trick them into hatching and raising their own eggs.

Called brood parasitism it is something I couldn't find any real proof of, just friends on the internet saying they do that, and in this case they weren't Killing any babies, just laid some eggs in a widowers nest.

As I thought about and researched it I realised he was super angry when I went near those eggs, and that was the most enthusiasm I had seen since he showed me his wifes remains because of a lizard, (try explaining that at a family dinner).

Maybe this would be good for him, Give him something to do I guess, and they were also native birds.

In fact It was then I named him, Foster.

Mr Foster Cheeky.

On account of him clearly being a foster father, and the 1234, pause, 1234 lulled me into restful sleep for a few weeks. You get so used to it you wake up when it stops. 

It was pretty much on repeat after that for another 4 seasons, I lost the footage at one point of the young yellow beaks eggs and after they hatched, 3 big little yellow mouths and all.

Foster hatched and raised 4 more birds, the strongest would always kick the other 2 out of the nest as I found, so only one would fledge and as far as I know would abandon Foster never to be seen again, but hey we all know the track record of what I know.

In the end one day he just wasn't around, a year later the branch with his nest collapsed, still it was nice to have known Foster I would guess he pulled off a full 12 year life at least, maybe the full 15.

He had a will to live and a reason for about 12 weeks a year, that was enough for him.

No willy wag tails have taken up residency nearby since but I can guarantee I have not shared all of their stories nor do I know everything about them, yet.

Thank you for reading please consider sharing and regards.

J. W. Newell.

©Jayman Newell 2025.