Well, I finally made it out of lockdown this weekend, and following some tips from local birders I went in search of Scarlet Honeyeater (Myzomela sanguinolenta) at Bushy Park, about 25 minutes from my house. You can tell what kind of year I (we) have had since COVID arrived in that this is about the longest journey I have been able to do in many months!
I was helped out by two birders on site who pointed me in the right direction to find the birds - although I think I may have found them anyway as they were calling loudly and feeding on flowering bushes - ie behaving in the way the field guides say they do! (This is a novelty)
The Scarlet Honeyeater is 9 to 11 centimetres (3.5 to 4.3 in) long, and is the smallest honeyeater in Australia. It also flies rapidly, spends a lot of its time with its head in flowers and generally spends most of its time inside bushes, rather than on the nicely illuminated flowers on the edge of the bushes!
In other words, I did not get a lot of 'keepers' in the photographic sense.
This is a pretty unusual bird for my part of the world, and this year there have been a much higher number of sightings than usual. This species does move south in spring/ summer, but this year it seems to have come much further south (and in greater numbers) than normal. This is good news for me, but maybe not good news for the bird.
These pictures look much better larger - so please click away.
(Also, is anybody having problems uploading images from their computer to Blogger?)
It feels great to be able to post some current birds, and to have a chance to restore some form of normal service! So, as ever, stay safe and link up with WBW.
