Mystery eyes revealed

The owners of the eyes (and the prizes) are revealed below – I was very impressed with everyone’s answers to last week’s Mystery Eyes Quiz, especially as I had to recheck the currawong myself and I took the shot!

 

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Mystery eyeball 1 – Emu

 

The emu eyeball wasn’t much of a mystery, especially with the topknot of feathers left in last week’s image. Emus are such an iconic Aussie bird, love them or loathe them (and I love them). I’ve just arrived home from an amazing trip to Gluepot where the sight of gangly legged emus running across the red sands never failed to make me smile.

 

 

Withering look

 Mystery Eyeball 2 – Bush Stone-curlew

 

Stone-curlews are stunning birds with their strange haunting calls and striking features. I was contacted a while ago by a publishing house who wanted to use a Beach Stone-curlew image I’d taken, on the front cover of a novel. The bird will appear as though it is being held in a girl’s arms. When they originally wrote to me they said they were interested in a curlew image which had me puzzled as I haven’t posted any images of Eastern Curlew, hopefully I’ll get some sharable shots soon.

 

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Mystery eyeball 3 – Pied Currawong

 

The currawong has a very strange eye, very bright and beady in a dark night of feathers.

 

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Mystery eyeball 4 – Silver Gull

 

Quite a lot of birds have a pale iris, I think they look a little disturbing especially on Silver Gulls, ravens and Blue-winged Kookaburras. They don’t bother me on small birds like the Chestnut-rumped Thornbill.

 

Young King Parrot

 Mystery eyeball 5 – Australian King Parrot

 

This King Parrot is a juvenile male and I think his expression is very sweet, the opposite of the fierce look of the Silver Gull.

 

Australian Wood Duck - Kim Wormald

 Mystery eyeball 6 – Australian Wood Duck

 

I took the image above from the verandah of a cabin on the banks of the Murray at Mildura, something I won’t forget as I see the cabin, the trees and the setting sun in the reflection in its eye.

 

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 Mystery eyeball 7 – Australian Magpie

 

Another iconic Aussie, magpies are confident birds who herald the dawn with their beautiful carolling call.

 

Eye-catching

 Mystery eyeball 8 – Australian Pelican

 

Until I took this pelican image I hadn’t realised that they had such striking breeding colours. As I look at his portrait I’m wondering if his eye and the skin around it are larger than his brain.

I enjoyed looking at birds’ eyeballs even more closely that usual and hope you did too. I was particularly pleased to unearth images that I had filed away without a second glance, especially the emu shot that I like more than I did when I first saw it.

Someone somewhere mentioned there should be a prize – what a great idea. Nothing grand, but if you responded to the quiz and would like a lirralirra image of your choice (subject to copyright) as a screensaver let me know and I’ll send you a digital file. Please check last week’s comments for my replies!

Happy birding, Kim

 

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