Nesting White-breasted woodswallows

White-breasted woodswallow, Artamus leucorynchus about to swap with its mate on their nest.

White-breasted woodswallow on the nest. 

Over the October long-weekend this year, the wife & I took the opportunity to spend some time sailing on Lake Macquarie.  We pulled up on what we jokingly call "Walter's Island", a small island to let the dogs run, swim and generally burn off some energy.  I couldn't help but notice a White-breasted woodswallow, (Artamus leucorynchus) paying a bit too much attention to the dogs' antics. 

I slowly scanned around at the trees nearby and sure enough, there was a rough ball of a nest with a tail hanging over the edge.  It was only about three and a half metres off the ground in the fork of one of the Casurina spp trees.  No wonder the Woodswallow was upset.   

We kept the dogs away from the area and watched with delight as the Woodswallows took their turn on the nest, changing every twenty or thirty minutes to hunt and feed.  I suspect they were incubating eggs as there were no begging cries audible at shift change 

I took a couple of representative images, and we left the area.  It was great to see, and just something the average person would rarely have an opportunity to observe.  The sighting has been logged with the Atlas of Living Australia.