I have looked at so many photographs to share this week but couldn’t go past this little spinebill dancing at the end of its perch.
1/1000, f/4.0, ISO 3200
For some reason that I’m not entirely sure about, I really like this simple little shot of an Eastern Spinebill with one leg lifted as it lands.
They are exquisite honeyeaters to watch as they virtually hover when taking nectar from tubular flowers with their long, decurved bills.
Next week I’ll be deciding between various gannets, or egrets, or teal, or spoonbills, or Scarlet Honeyeaters, or Striated Thornbills… or who knows what!
Happy birding, Kim
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She is a superbly cute pretty little spine bill!! Thanks Kim!
It’s more likely to be a male Tess due to the more intense colouring, but it’s kind of nice to have the gender default on the female side!
So beautiful ☺️
Thanks Alyssa 🙂
I do like the curve of the beak echoing the curve of the branch – a very clever contrast. Here in suburban Melbourne, the magpies are all rejoicing and singing their little lungs out – all because we are in the middle of a plague of crickets, and all the birds are gorging themselves – they deserve this feast, after all the hot days and hardships nature has thrown at them recently. It was 38 degrees here a couple of days ago, and I really hate how the birds all go eerily silent when it’s that unbearably hot. I worry that they’ll fall out of the trees, gasping! But then a cool southerly wind blows it all away by dusk, and then the birds start calling out to each other – I can hear the relief in their singing! They are survivors of a brutal climate – we all are!
The magpies have been happily carolling here as well, though there is no plague of crickets here and even the flurry of cabbage white butterflies has tailed off. I saw a Grey Fantail collapse mid-flight during a heat wave, as it flew the few metres from the remnant bushland to the birdbaths. It managed to flutter back up after a few seconds and get to the water. It’s the reason I always let birds drink and bathe if they’ve flown to water before I photograph them. I love your description of the songs following the cool change.