Sandy Creek has proved to be a bonanza for little birds this past week. I have often spent a couple of hours at a time on this track because there have been so many opportunities for getting close to little birds like the Brown Thornbill above.
The Variegated Fairy-wrens have shown up repeatedly right along the eastern reach of Sandy Creek Walk. I have made a determined effort to photograph some of the females. They are somewhat harder to photograph than the males as they blend in with the fern and grasses they inhabit.
Of course the males are still there too and distract me. This one appears to be fully coloured now. I notice that Variegated Fairy-wrens are more arboreal than the Superb Fairy-wrens. I often see them very high in the canopy in the treed area.
The real performers this week have been the Thornbills and I have been fortunate to get some good photos of both Brown and Stiated Thornbills. This is a Brown Thornbill thrashing a caterpillar before eating it. Apparently birds do not like their "salad greens" and get rid of it before swallowing the caterpillar!
The Striated Thornbill is very similar to the Brown. The most noticeable difference is that the head of the Striated is striped, while the that of the Brown is scalloped. There are other differences as well but in the field it takes a fair bit of practice before you can confidently identify them.
A couple more photos of Striated Thornbills
And a couple more Brown Thornbills
There are quiet a few Spotted Pardalotes around and I have had reports that they have been seen nesting. Mostly I picke them up from their "pip pip" sound. It is quite penetrating and once you notice it, you will pick them out from the other bird sounds.
Scarlet Honeyeaters are found right through the treed area now. They are high in the canopy and difficult to spot in spite of their colour. I can hear their wispy calls and know they are there. They sometime come lower on the vines like this one. In a few weeks time they will be feeding on the Bottle-brushes at home and that will make it much easier to photograph them. They are erratic fliers though and it is still a challenge to capture them.
Carmel and I went to Soldiers Beach for a bit of wave-watching. The seagulls were hanging around as usual and I took the opportunity to get some Birds in Flight (BIF) practice. I threw all the photos away as the day was cloudy and I did not get the nice blue-white contrast that is needed. I liked this portrait shot though and managed to get some detail into the white - probably due to the cloudy lighting.
An Australian Raven was strutting around looking for a free feed. Once again the lighting contributed to capturing some texture in the all black plumage.
And finally a ubiquitous Common Myna. For all our dislike of them, they are handsome birds and have very curious looking captivating eyes.
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