A few years ago there was an irruption of Crimson Chats that came far further south than their usual range. That time I felt lucky to see them at a distance, this time they were so close I could almost count their feathers.
These exquisite little birds are about 11g and about 12cm. The male is resplendent in bright crimson and black with a white chin and throat. The female is far more subtly colours but still very beautiful to my mind. They came to this stump separately but I merged the shots to show their dimorphic differences. He is holding a a bright green caterpillar while she has a fat bodied spider.
The map above shows where the Desert Discovery Inc team were camping. If you look from the NP sign towards the dark inverted ‘V’ we were just at the southern edge of the dark creek line. The creek was dry apart from a small pool that was rapidly drying and an area further upstream that was fed by a spring. I saw several fabulous species at the small pool that I’ll share in upcoming posts.
Parachilna is at the bottom right of the map, this is where I stayed on the night before I started camping.
Many thanks to everyone who has purchased a calendar, the cart is already at just over 100 copies which is wonderful. I’ve heard from people who give lirralirra calendars as Christmas gifts each year to family, friends, neighbours, teachers and work colleagues – just in case that’s a helpful idea. On my facebook page I’ve offered a free calendar for naming the species – please check this out if you’d like to. This is the link for pre-orders: https://lirralirrashop.com/ 100% of proceeds are used to support my conservation photography.
Happy birding, Kim
~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra – 11K followers
~ Lirralirra shop – https://lirralirrashop.com/
~ Etsy – prints made to order – Kim Wormald lirralirra
~ Photography masterclass – https://www.australianbirdtours.com.au/bird-photography-masterclass
