Hi gang
We will go back to basics this week - lets see shots of honeyeaters. In addition to the photos, I want to you tell us all what you like about that bird or a bit about what it was doing.
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Female Crescent Honeyeater on my very small new pot plant.
M-L
Eastern Spinebill.
M-L
Juvenile Lewin's Honeyeater.
M-L
Erk, where do I start?
Pic 1 - Well, over the weekend, I caught my first decent photos of the elusive (at least to me) Eastern Spinebill. I went to an Open Gardens event at a place called Birdhaven. On the saturday my battery ran flat in ridiculous time, so I went back on sunday. There were about a dozen of these little guys all over the place. (the garden was basically a giant Grevillea forest) So cute, so flighty. I was so chuffed to finally get some pictures of them after months of frustration at Daisy Hill forest.
Pic 2 - My favourite type of honeyeater, simply because they're so common around my area, and they were one of the first sightings that really got me back into birdwatching and photography. I just love these guys!
Pic 3 - Finally (for now) - the humble Noisy Miner. I often catch myself when I'm out birding spotting a "far off bird" and being interested in it until I see it's "just a noisy miner". I suppose that to a degree familiarity breeds contempt, being such a common bird it's easy to forget that they're a beautiful unique creature like all the others. This is one of my favourite photos of any bird.
Female New Holland Honeyeater.
M-L
Baby Eastern Spinebill.
M-L
The very rare "Helmeted Honeyeater", last count, there were only 96 left. This bird is one of a breeding program at Healesville.
M-L
Sorry, I should have mentioned why I like Honeyeaters so much
, they are so well adapted to all Australian native plants. They are fast and flamboyant. They also depend on us to supply them with food (naitve plants) to survive and prosper.
Here ios one more New Holland Honeyeater in my garden.
M-L
Haha M-L, it's okay. They certainly are some of the most attractive birds going around. :)
New Hollands are so freakin cute!
The Helmeted Honeyeater has a kind of hopeful/desperate "Are you going to help me?" look on its face. Buuuut perhaps I'm just imagining things. It's such a tragedy that humans through action or inaction decide that entire species of animals and plants don't deserve to live on the planet any more.
The sadest thing is, I saw one in my own garden 10 years ago, the vegetation around my garden is ideal for the Helmeted Honeyeater. The breeding program isn't far from where I live either. Someone wanted to come and visit me to have a look. They'd better come fast, the DSE is going to conduct a huge burn all the way up to my fence later this year. I can not keep them from doing this. I feel powerless and devastated. There are Owls (Barking Owls, Powerful Owls and others) behind us in the bush. I cry, just thinking about it. What is to become of all the wildlife?? Everyone else wants the burns.
M-L
Brown-headed Honeyeater in my garden.
I love it when they whistle to each other. I have noticed the first ones for this year, just today.
M-L
That's a lovely bird, M-L. Never seen one of those. :)
Just remembered another one of my favourite honeyeaters. The cheery Yellow-Faced Honeyeater. Usually one of the first birds I spot (and hear) when walking down at Daisy Hill forest.
M-L dont worrie to much if its a controlled burn at the right time the wildlife will be fine and they will return in no time at all , but if they dont do it and you get a bush fire on a hot day with all the fuel on the ground it will kill every thing, trees and all , and it will take years for it to regenerate and for the wildlife to come back .A nd beleive me M-L u dont want an out of controle bush fire ive seen what they do its not good for anything , so try and work with them , they dont want to have to put there lives , yours and your communitys lives and the wildlife at risk in the heat of summer . Ive lived and worked in the bush all my life and its the best way " Remove the fuel Remove the threat " an old bloke once told me that and he is so right , so M-L please dont worrie they will be fine . Now for some birds ... love there songs
Wow Robert, great photos
Some I haven't seen yet. I love them all
Quick answer regarding the burns, even if this is most likely the wrong spot to talk about it?
Thanks for you being concerned . The emphasis on burns is “ controlled”, I have yet to see a “controlled DSE burn” that stayed within the designated boundaries. They all grew well beyond where they were supposed to stay. I know what a bushfire is like, we live in an extreme fire danger area. We lived in Cockatoo when the town burned down in 1983, but only the neighbour’s shed burned down, we had just bought a house there two weeks earlier. The black Saturday fires came very close to where we live now (5 minutes close) That is precisely why I’m worried. They say they are bulldozing a break between us and the forest. But if the burn gets out of control, as they do, gets into the tops of the trees, as it does, we will be “stuffed” Better have all our fire fighting gear ready. Have 2 pumps, water tanks, roof sprinklers, the lot. They did a burn 3 years ago in the area, it got a bit too hot, burnt into the tops, they had to fell trees later because they were dead. And even after all that time the vegetation only comes back now.
I'm not worried for myself, just the wildlife.
M-L
A photo of a Noisy miner.
I love Honeyeaters because there are so many of them! Each one is different and I love that
Honeyeater eating honey maker
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Great photo Shorty, do you think he made a mistake eating it?
M-L
Thanks, M-L. He ate quite a lot of bees during my viewing. ( shot was taken July 2012 ) And i thought this winter was warm
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Hi everyone
I have just come back from 4 weeks in Queensland and have had a great time photographing all the new birds to me. It was hard work sometimes identifying the new birds each day but with my trusty Field Guide to Aust. birds, think I did OK. Anyhow here are a few that I took. I loved the blue faced honey eaters they were very cheeky.
I was especially taken with the raptors, and I have a huge amount of photos of kites, osprey, sea eagles etc. I was taking photos on the Esplanade in Cairns one afternoon and a chap with a lens like mine was standing taking photos as well, we got chatting about lenses etc and he asked me what I thought of my canon 400mm prime lens. I told him it was great but felt it was slow on the uptake with birds in flight. He asked could he have a look and suggested a few changes which he did. He slowed down the focussing and it has been fantastic ever since. Wished I had got his name to thank him but am hoping that he is part of birds in backyards so may see this. If he is - thank you.
Diane - Canberra
Hey everyone
Really enjoying the photos!!! Everyone has done so well to capture such nice photos of the honeyeaters. Sometimes they move so fast all you end up with is a blur, so very impressed. I have a few good ones of white plumed h/e, yellow faced h/e, spinebills, new hollands, noisy miners etc, but thought I would just throw some new species into the mix. Enjoy.
1) Tawny Crowned Honeyeater
2) White Naped Honeyeater (sticking his tongue out)
3) Bellbird or "Bellminer" - giving us proof that he is indeed a honeyeater!
Dave, Sydney.
I love the blue-faced honeyeaters as well. That eye patch is just so... well satiny blue... :) And the juveniles' funky green is pretty nifty too. :)
Thanks for sharing!
Hey ML
I note the similarity between the Helmeted and Yellow tufted honeyeaters I posted a few weeks ago. I looked it up and they are the same birds with 4 subs, Helmeted limited to a very small area at Yellingbo nature reserve, Sydney Yellow Tufted, Gippsland Yellow Tufted and Inland Yellow Tufted.
This is a Sydney Yellow tufted I saw at Waterfall South of Sydney
Two more of the little lovelys
I would love to see a Scarlet Honeyeater, they are beautiful.
Richard , I live very close to Yellingbo, but even closer to where the released some of the Helmeted Honeyeaters breed in captivity, the Bunyip State Park. Sadly not all of them survived. That is why I'm a bit worried about prescribed burns in the area. Even if they are good to protect people from bush fires (something I have yet to be convinced of), they destroy desperately needed habitat for a few years,
M-L
Some beautys
The striped Honeyeater is nesting at the moment. So exciting!!
Every time I spot a Scarlet Honeyeater they're at the top of a tree. -_-
That's one gorgeous bird, Elsie! (the Striped honeyeater) Very photogenic! :)
The White-Throated (guessing) is adorkable too. :)
It does seem a little counter intuitive to release endangered species then burn them out. (just a bit)
I wonder how often the bush in that area was affected by bushfires before mans intervention. Some bush benefits from a burnout, as you know, and birds can fly but if they are bred in captivity and released, do they have the fire instinct?
Thanks Windshear! The striped Honeyeater photos come out really well (when I can get decent ones
) I find that they are rather shy around my place
Yes it is a white throated honeyeater, and yes it is very, very adorable
I did put the names in the mouse over box but maybe they aren't working? The tree that the white throated is eating from has just come into flower again so I am hoping that they come back one of these day. they tend to hang out in the tree tops with the Scarlets
I was on my phone, didn't see the tag.
I've only seen them the once, at Pooh Corner, and they were in lowish / midheight trees where I saw them. Guess I got lucky.
Love the pics of the scarlet and striped honeyeaters. Such beautiful birds, wish they visited this part of town more often!
Another honeyeater species to throw into the mix - from Tassie! Yellow-throated honeyeater. I'm sure someone on this forum has visited/is from Tasmania - would love to see a nice pic of this beautiful honeyeater.
Dave, Sydney.
Hi
I have one more that I meant to add yesterday a white plumed honey eater
Cheers Diane
Hi Dave, search last week for Ruby's Yellow Throated Honey Eater, love your photos of this Tassie Endemic, have at my place (seasonal), but the only photo I have, it is hidden by a branch.
Love everyones efforts, some really great photos of special birds, THANKS ALL
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
White-cheeked Honeyeater. We get alot of these in our backyard.
New Holland Honeyeater, we also get alot of these too.
Singing Honeyeater.
Kerry - Perth, Western Australia.
Fuscous Honeyeater from Sheep Station Creek Conservation Park last Sunday
Peter
It's great to see a variety of species from all over. 6 species I haven't seen.
Brandon (aka ihewman)
It's great to see a variety of species from all over. 6 species I haven't seen.
Brandon (aka ihewman)
little Wattlebird
M-L
Young Yellow-faced Honeyeater
M-L
Love the close-up of the Wattlebird, M-L. The ones in my area aren't all that friendly.
Oh my goodness, how beautiful are all those shots! So many I haven't seen too
.
Between the weather, work and family illness, don't get as much time lately to get out & about so here are some that you may have already seen:
Crescent Honeyeater - Female
(subspecies pyrrhoptera)
Crescent Honeyeater - Male
(subspecies pyrrhotpera)
Little Wattlebird
(subspecies tasmanica)
Little Wattlebird - Female
Well, her tail anyway
Spied nesting a week or two ago.
(subspecies tasmanica)
Eastern Spinebill
(subspecies dubius)
Eastern Spinebill's bottom
(subspecies dubius)
New Holland Honeyeater
(subspecies canescens)
Strong-billed Honeyeater
(Tas Endemic)
Black-headed Honeyeater
(Tas Endemic)
Yellow-throated Honeyeater
(Tas Endemic)
Hope that is not too many?
Edited to add: I love that they're all choc full of different, bold, LOUD personalities. My post would be far to long for me to put something for all, I just might get carried away
West Coast Tasmania
how incredibly cute is that little baby with it's little tuffy feathers
Kerry - Perth, Western Australia.
Ohhh, definitely a cutie that little New Holland. I love when babies have that inbetween stages scruffy look
, adorable!
West Coast Tasmania