Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Local Birds

Extra to last week's post.  After I wrote the last blog post I read on the Birding-Aus forum that numbers of Sooty Terns had been blown by the storm into places all along the coast.  Then this morning Denis from The Nature of Robertson sent me this link to an article from the Sydney Morning Herald about Sooty Terns that have been handed in to the wildlife hospital at the Taronga Zoo. There is a great little piece of video on the page and an interesting article about where the Terns have most likely come from. Thanks Denis, it's well worth a look. 

Soon after sunrise this morning I went down to the bay at Mullens for a walk along the foreshore.  I hoped I would see some interesting birds for this week's blog post.  However, I had not taken enough notice of the tide time or height and I found the little creek was too deep for me to risk walking through carrying my camera.  The light on the bay at this hour of the morning is always beautiful so I did not count my very short walk as wasted effort.


There were piles of leaves and sticks all along the shoreline where they had been dropped by the tide and the waves which were pushed in shore by the storm last week. These piles are lots higher than even the highest tides of the year would be able to push them.

I was unable to find any interesting birds to photograph at Mullens this morning so I am posting some that I see regularly around my house.  Brown Honeyeaters are around here nearly every day. They are tiny (12-16cm or 5-6+inches) but easy to find because of their very loud song.


White-throated Honeyeaters are very similar in size (13-15cm) but not as easy to see. They are quieter and get chased off by the Brown Honeyeaters whenever they come into the same trees or bushes. I seldom see the Brown Honeyeaters on the hibiscus flowers but the White-throated Honeyeaters seem to prefer them.  This hibiscus is one of the older forms and the flower is smaller than most.

For more bird photos from around the world visit Wild Bird Wednesday.


26 comments:

  1. BEAUTIFUL honeyeaters! also love your 2nd photo - gorgeous!

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  2. Those honey eaters are impressive. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  3. This is a great post, perfect for WBW!

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  4. Pity about the tide height Mick - there always a few variables. fantastic shots of the Brown Hoeyeaters though - I didn't realise they were so small.

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  5. Lovely photos! For me the honeyeaters are really excotic! I have never seen one! The last photo is so nice, because we can only have hibiscus inside our houses and not outside.
    Thanks for your comment! Greetings Pia

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  6. The Brown Honeyeater is lovely! thanks for the links about the terns also, hopefully i'll get a chance to take a look, sounds very interesting.

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  7. A beautiful portrait of the Brown Honeyeater!
    That second landscape shot is gorgeous in frame and tones - perfect!

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  8. great storms rearrange nature a lot. Weather we like it or not.

    I love the Honeyeaters, such lovely birds. Great shots.

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  9. A walk thru nature is never wasted. Love your captures of the beautiful Honeyeaters and the lovely hibiscus flower.

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  10. It looks like any day in your yard is a good birding day. Those Brown Honeyeater shots are very impressive!

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  11. I'm always impressed with the great birds that you have in your area. Love the Honeyeaters

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  12. The Honeyeaters are pretty birds. Great shots, Mick!

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  13. Hi Mick..The Honeyeater shots are beautiful, a bird I will never see,so thanks for sharing!!
    I also like the black and white shot!!
    Grace
    Thank you so much for your comment on my post!

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  14. These birds are really interesting to me, since I've never seen either of them before. Your photography is stellar.. love the detail around the eye of the Brown Honey-eater. Just beautiful!

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  15. Coming to you from Teresa's blog (eden hill's)...and your bird photos are gorgeous. It's lovely to see birds from other parts of the world (I'm Canadian). I'm always amazed how some of the smallest species of birds have the loudest voices :)

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  16. Now, see, that's a typical birder/photographer. The tide was too high but what great light!!
    I love it!
    Wonderful images of the honeyeaters.

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  17. You see birds on a daily basis I have to go on holiday to see!

    Maybe we should do a house swap - not that I saw the rosella at home, but you know what I mean.

    Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW.

    Stewart M - Melbourne

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  18. Great shots! Honeyeaters--new bird to me--thanks for sharing :)

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  19. Beautiful and lovely shots. I love them all. I am a newbie and don't recognize many birds yet but I love the one with the gentle yellow coloring along it's wing tip!

    Awesome ...simply ..awesome!

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  20. Lovely little birds!

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  21. Wonderful images of the Brown Honeyeaters, Mick. Amazing birds - totally unlike anything we might see in UK!

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  22. Wonderful pictures of the honey eaters and I really like the silhouette too!

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  23. Lovely curve on the bills of the honeyeaters!

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  24. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to have those honeyeaters as backyard birds!

    Goodness, that storm/tide did a number on your area!

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