lirralirra

Times are certainly strange when I spend much of the week standing in my bathtub with my camera resting on the windowsill.

If I had to be confined to home, and ridiculously weak as I steadily recover, then doing it when the figs are ripening was fortuitous.

There’s a small orchard outside my bathroom window, with a fig tree closest to the house. Each morning I look at the tree, often thinking there’s nothing in it until I’ve watched a while longer and notice tiny Silvereyes pecking happily at ripe figs.

After a couple of weeks of just watching I felt well enough to use my camera. By standing in the bath I could open the screenless window a little, rest my lens on the windowsill and start photographing these adorable little visitors from Tasmania.

Silvereyes are often at my property, enjoying the birdbaths, eating the berries of the Prickly Currant bushes and nesting in the Swamp Paperbarks. My regular Silvereyes, I believe, are the ssp westernensis. The ssp lateralis, with their dark rufous flanks, generally visit during April – making the most of the figs.

The photograph above shows how careful they are to enjoy every speck of goodness the figs have to offer. This year I even saw them eating the pith, which makes me wonder whether it is a source of vitamin C. I remember my guinea pigs enjoying the pith from oranges for that reason.

The Silvereyes were comical to watch, often chasing each other from the ripest figs after a few moments. Pairs would take flight, chasing each other around and through the tree – I had no hope of photographing their aerial acrobats, they were crazily fast.

I wanted to get some shots that show how tiny these birds are, weighing a mere 10g. It’s astounding to think that these minute birds can migrate between Tasmania and the mainland. From island sightings, it’s believed that they may hop from island to island, which would mean their longest flight with no rest would be 50km. Still a huge distance.

Not all Tassie Silvereyes choose to migrate, but those that do can end up as far north as Queensland and as far west as Adelaide.

The figs on my tree are pretty small, they fit in my hand. I experimented with a wider depth of field to try to capture a Silvereye in a different way. I have a few ‘peeking’ shots that make me smile. I hope you like this one.

Happy birding from home, Kim

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography