A zebra finch has made a rather unique nest for its eggs — inside the dried carcass of a dingo, hanging from a tree.
The nest was discovered by ABC reporters Chris Lewis and Jo Prendergast, during a road trip in Western Australia's Murchison region.
"We saw this wild dog strung up in a tree, so we thought we'd take a look — and when we pulled up, a bird flew out of the cavity where you would say its bum was," Ms Prendergast said.
"Looking in there you could see this amazing rounded out nest that this finch had created and there was a swag of eggs in there."
Ms Prendergast said the carcass looked and smelled like it had been there for a week or so.
"It was starting to be a bit smelly … I just hope that dog and the branch it's resting on hang in there long enough for those little finches to hatch," she said.
Nesting in carcasses uncommon
Wildlife biologist Kiara L'Herpiniere said birds used many things to make their nests in, but this was not something she had heard of before.
"I've got to say, nesting in a dingo's butt is probably the most outrageous thing that I have heard," she said.
"But using dead stuff or nesting inside dead stuff — I couldn't find anything [else] in Australia.
"The second most outrageous thing after the dingo has to be a Eurasian wren, which is a little wren in Europe, that was found to nest in a pike, which is a type of fish.
"[The nest was] in the pike's mouth, which was dead on the side of a bank — equally odd."
Odd nesting behaviour could increase
Dr L'Herpiniere described zebra finches as "opportunistic".
"They do build dome nests normally but they very frequently go into other bird's nests or hollowed cavities and build their nests in there," she said.
"There is a huge shortage of hollows for nesting species … so we might continue to see a rise in odd nesting behaviour as we continue to destroy habitat."
Dead dingoes and wild dogs are sometimes hung from trees as a tally or sign to others of how many have been caught.
