232) Birds in Blooms

New Holland Honeyeater

You'd strike a superman-showoff pose, too, if you looked like one of these dashing birds!  As we entered into Giraween National Park there was a frenzy of activity as the New Holland Honeyeaters darted about, enjoying the nectar from a variety of blooming Banksias.  It's a wonder these guys managed to stay still for the split second needed to capture their portrait.

White-naped Honeyeater

Apostlebird

There are three honeyeaters which look very similar.  The field mark for White-naped Honeyeater is the bright red crescent above their eye.  White-throated Honeyeaters look almost exactly the same, but have a blue crescent above their eyes, as do Black-chinned Honeyeaters.  But the Black-chinned Honeyeaters, as you may guess, have black chins, but are also quite rare.







Apostlebirds are companionable social birds.  We love to hear them nattering about, rough and tumble birds.

Little Lorikeet  

We were very pleased to find these Little Lorikeets in winter-blooming Eucalypts. We have heard them before and glimpsed their silhouettes as they flash past overhead at just under Mach 1. We were wondering if they ever actually stop flying! But here they were mixed in with the both Musk and Ray-loes (aka Rainbow Lorikeets).  The lorikeets have brush-tipped tongues to eat both the pollen and nectar from the blooms.

Musk Lorikeet

The Musk Lorikeets were another 'legendary' bird--we didn't think they truly existed, but here they were.  We still marvel that trees bloom year-round, here, and the birds are able to follow and find the blooms among the vastness of the terrain they must need to cover.

The Rose Robins are moving down from the higher-elevation rainforest, and lighting up the open woods where we can enjoy their beauty...












...the female Rose Robins are a bit more subdued with just a hint of delicate pink.

This group of White-winged Choughs were hanging out in our campground.  One bird was the leader, and one bird was sweep--they kept an eye on everyone in between them, calling back and forth to keep contact.















Every bird is our favourite until the next one comes along, but we can't resist exclaiming over the exquisiteness of the Diamond firetails...we were lucky to see several on this trip, only a few birds at a time, though.

Diamond Firetail

231) When the Red, Red Robin comes bop bop bobbin' along

Scarlet Robin

Winter is closing in here Down Under and birds are on the move. The shorebirds have largely left on their huge migrations north. The locals are also moving about - from south to the warmer northern climes, and down from the higher elevations to the coast and lower areas. We headed to Sundown NP via Girraween and were super excited to see this Scarlet Robin flitting about, snatching bugs from a farm paddock. We see them very rarely as we are on the northern edge of their range.  Their plumage is nearly fluorescent, it's that vivid!  This was the first robin of our weekend robin tour.  Just as an aside, the only commonality between global 'robins' is is their sometimes reddish-hued breast.  They are different genera--American robins are thrushes, European robins are chats, and Australasian robins are in the genus Petroica, a genus with unclear relationships to other bird families. 
 

Hooded Robin

Arriving at Sundown, we fairly quickly spotted a Hooded Robin and his lady-friend who are either moving through or are there for the winter.  They are generally not known to be migrants, but we've only seen them at Sundown in winter.

Eastern Yellow Robin

Rose Robin

But we were on a Robin roll and soon picked up on Eastern Yellow Robin who seemed to gleefully follow us around - something we are used to in the rainforest here!  They're fun to photograph because they also seem to like to pose prettily and close-by.

Also on the move are the Rose Robins.  We haven't seen them for a while, but were lucky to spot two at Sundown NP.  According to eBird, their 'detectability' increases in the wintertime.  They prefer the rainforest in the summer months where they are hard to see, but then move into more open forest like in Sundown in the wintertime.  This photo was taken elsewhere as these guys are quick and it's hard to get a good picture!

Mistletoebird

Ok, well not a robin but the flashing red of the Mistletoebird initially *looks* that way. These guys are t-i-n-y and hang out in dense clumps of mistletoe and eat the berries. Easy enough to identify by call, but hard to locate and photograph because they're quite zippy, too.