Tuesday 2 December 2014

The Barry Way 2

Perhaps the birding wasn't THAT basic. A honeyeater landed on the ground near me and I thought ... Yellow-plumed HE. I took some photos.

Yellow-plumed Honeyeater ??
No. Fuscous Honeyeater
A look at the maps in the books showed that its range is nowhere near the Black-Allan Line which runs between Cape Howe and the start of the Murray River at Cowombat Flat. I have had a good look in the learned tomes at all the honeyeaters with yellow ears/plumes, examined my photos and have decided it was a Fuscous Honeyeater. The yellow is not a "neck-plume" across the neck but a "small, black-edged plume on the neck" Pizzey & Knight p368. There is no marked flecking of the breast nor yellow eye-ring which are both present on the Y-P. An interesting challenge. Happy to enter into correspondence!

From this encounter, I walked a few paces uphill and was marvelling at a Willie Wagtail nest ...


... when a brightly coloured parrot flew straight at me and landed just a short distance away. I snapped off some good photos, it didn't make a sound or seem too concerned as I walked around to get a better angle on it, then quietly flew off after about 10 minutes as I became engrossed with Willie Wagtail parental responsibilities.




Back to the books. The orange beak is not present on any parrot with this colouration in Australia! There is lots of yellow underneath. Parrots of this hue in the area include Blue-winged [perhaps], Red-rumped but I settled on an immature female Turquoise Parrot. Happy to enter into correspondence!

Whatever, just magic. f8 and be there.



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