The fig thieves have been working hard this year, especially the tiny Silvereyes that are smaller than most of the figs they are tucking into.
1/1000, f/5.0, ISO” 1600
Canon 5DSR, Canon 200-400 L IS USM
The fig tree has welcomed heaps of visitors this year, mainly birds but also quite a few humans and the occasional fox.
Silvereyes are named for the white ring around their eyes. Many birds with eye-rings have bare skin around their eyes but Silvereyes eyes are ringed with tiny white feathers. The feathers can be clearly seen in the image above, they are quite exquisite.
Happy birding, Kim
~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group Ethical Bird Photography
It was very nice of the silvereyes to share so many with us this year! Beautiful shot and I love the fun fact about the eye feathers 🙂
They were super generous eh 🙂
They are truly beautiful birds but seeing them with figs brings back memories I would sooner forget.
The birds (and particularly the silver eyes) always knew that the figs were ripe before we did. It was my job as a child to pick up the excavated fig remains. They were often over run with ants and sometimes mouldy. They were also squishy and gross. To this day I cannot face fresh figs.
Oh EC that is such a powerful memory, and not the kind of chore I’d want to lumber any child with. How things have changed, hopefully! And how fascinating is it how we hang on to memories that we can’t shake even if we’d like to.
The youngest of my brothers (who is older than me) had the job before I did. He does not eat fresh fig either. And yes, there are some memories that I could gladly erase (including more significant ones than mouldy figs).
If only there was some magical way to erase those memories that keep us trapped…