The Tom Oliver Award 2015

In May last year I posted a tribute to Tom Oliver in the post Silvereye Triptych and mentioned that an award was being set up in his name. Details of the award were announced recently and I hope the organisers are inundated with fine entries – check out the link at the bottom of the page, the winner could be you!

 

Yellow-faced Honeyeater - Kim WormaldYellow-faced Honeyeater (Lichenostomus chrysops)
Canon 5DIII, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 400, focal length 390mm

 

I wasn’t sure which images to share for this post but suddenly realised it had to be the Yellow-faced Honeyeater, above, and the Little Wattlebird, below. I wanted images that were somehow linked with Silvereyes and these birds appeared briefly while I was taking the Silvereye shots that featured in Bottlebrush Posers.

Yellow-faced Honeyeaters are small honeyeaters measuring about 16cm and weighing 16g, they are considerably larger than Silvereyes. They eat a range of food including nectar, fruit and insects. They have a happy chirruping call and can be found from South Australia up to northern Queensland. I usually only see a couple at a time but today five appeared and I’m hopeful that three of them were fledglings.

 

 

Little Wattlebird - Kim WormaldLittle Wattlebird (Anthochaera chrysoptera)
Canon 5DIII, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 400, focal length 390mm

 

Little Wattlebirds are significantly larger than Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, measuring 28cm and weighting a mighty 62g – which is still only as much as a hen’s egg. They have a brush-tipped tongue which they use to probe into flowers and gather nectar. Little Wattlebirds are found in similar areas to the yellow-faced except they are missing from parts of northern Queensland and present in south-west Western Australia and in Tasmania. They have a strange semi-raucous semi-musical call that is less harsh than the call of the widespread Red Wattlebird.

Visit the Tom Oliver Award if you would like details about the award (which is open to all Australians). If I can help in any way please let me know.

Happy birding and good luck, Kim

 

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