As bird photography trip go, this one was pretty good. I was fortunate to get some reasonable photos of a Mistletoebird and a Southern Emu-wren.
The Southern Emu-wrens have been one bird I was after at this reserve for a long time. Two trips back, I had been able to get some reasonable photos of one. This trip, I only saw one Emu-wren, and in the same location I had seen one previously. And again, it did not show itself for very long, but it chose a better perch for photography than before, and I was ready.
I had been stopping at this location a number of times on my visit, and it was not until the early afternoon that I succeeded in spotting the Emu-wren. So persistence pays off. Here are some of my photos –
The tiny bird gradually climbed higher and higher up the grass, and this brought it more into the open.
Some of the other birds I had been watching, are a pair of Whistling Kites. They are nesting in the sounds on the Correctional Centre nearby.
I could not see any chicks.
On my walk into Emu Green, I spotted the usual Superb Fairy-wrens –
And while looking for the Southern Emu-wrens the first time, I spotted this Chestnut-breasted Mannikin –
And a beautiful Mistletoebird appeared relatively close –
And that was followed by a Rufous Whistler –
As I walked in, I had been hearing the distinctive call of Sacred Kingfishers. But they were perched high on overhead wires. I later spotted one perched on a branch. It had a Christmas Beetle.
It bashed the beetle a few times on the branch to make sure it was dead.
There was a second Sacred Kingfisher perched nearby.
Later, I returned to that same area. The Kingfishers were still there.
And then I was lucky to witness them mating.
It was now time for them to work on their nest building. I have seen them excavate holes in Termite nests and utilise existing hollows in a tree. These two were excavating a nest hole near the top of a dead tree.
One would fly over and work for a few seconds, and then fly back to a nearby perch to recover. They seemed to be both involved.
This one is watching –
Along with the Emu-wrens, another species that I have seen at Emu Green are Rainbow Bee-eaters. I was after some better photos of them in flight. But on this trip and my previous trip, I have only seen them for very short times. This visit, I only saw one and it was visible for less than a minute.
And now for some finches. Here is a Double-barred Finch –
And a Zebra Finch –
And anon-native European Goldfinch –
One of the Whistling Kites appeared briefly, flying high overhead.
And some more birds –
Eastern Yellow Robin
Superb Fairy-wren
Satin Bowerbird
Golden-headed Cisticola
Silvereyes
And lastly a Yellow Thornbill.
