Sunday, October 25, 2009

Honeyeaters in the Early Morning.

A few months ago I was very pleased to see and hear Brown Honeyeaters in my garden. At first there were only a couple of birds at a time but now I think they must have raised a family and brought them back to my garden to visit and to take advantage of all the flowering trees. Most mornings now I hear them busily chattering and can see them flying around amongst the various trees and shrubs that are flowering right now. They seem quite used to me watching them and when I mimic their contact call which sounds like a little tongue click they look up but then simply get on with what they have been doing.
This morning it is very bright and sunny and these are some photos I have just now taken.
This bird sat just behind the branches and preened and then shook out its feathers.
Having finished its morning 'brush-up' it needed some nectar. Sorry I don't know what the tree is - I grew it from one that had sprouted under a similar tree in a neighbor's yard.
A close-up of the bird's head shows pollen all over its face and neck. Hardly surprising when it pokes its long beak so far down in the flower. (You will definitely need to click on the image and enlarge it to see the pollen.)
It moved around a number of flowers. Rather nice, I would think, to be able to choose the precise texture and flavor of an early morning feed!
It looked right at me as if to say "Are you still there?"

8 comments:

  1. Hi Mick love the last two photos shows the bird and flower really well.

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  2. Thanks Neil, its great to have these little birds in my garden.

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  3. Hi Mick
    .
    I am not a tropical plants person, but I believe yyour plant is an Albizzia
    Cheers
    Denis

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  4. Hi Denis, thanks very much for that. It's so interesting to know what it is called. I took the seedling from my neighbor because the tree in her yard attracted the little birds - as it is doing in my yard too.

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  5. Beautiful photos of flowers and Honeyeaters Mick. With all those pollen grains on the beak you can see how the two need each other to survive.

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  6. Hi John, I think this tree might be similar to the Persian Silk Tree you blogged about a while back. The flowers and leaves look similar to your photos.

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  7. Hi Mick. They do look similar. The main difference as I see it is yours seems to be flowering before the leaves grow where the Silk Tree flowers in late Summer.

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  8. Hi again John. Mine is a rather scraggly small tree with a habit of growing out rather than up and the main thing I have done is trim it so it doesn't go through the fence. I haven't even taken much notice of its flowering until the birds started to visit it so often although it has flowered for an extended period.

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