Friday, July 5, 2013

Yellingbo in the fog

Grey shrike-thrush
Most of the planets aligned for spending an hour at the usually productive Yellingbo recently. The weather was dry but the outside temperature dropped to 4 degrees Celsius as I drove towards Yellingbo in fog (Planet Fog)!


The locale known as Yellingbo includes some linear reserves of bushland which form Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. It is my understanding that the reserve is the main focus of an effort to conserve an endangered sub-species of Yellow-tufted honeyeater known as Helmeted honeyeater. The reserve is out of bounds except for guided walks. My observations are from the roadside from which I've enjoyed many good sightings in recent years.
Both the camera and my cold fingers didn't want to work normally and no decent photographs resulted!


 I did find it interesting to observe:
  1.  The behaviour of a few Grey shrikethrush and some Superb fairywrens. Presumably hunting, they would jump out onto the road after cars had passed.
  2. A White throated tree-creeper being tailed by an Eastern yellow robin. I am sure I have seen this pairing before.
 


Every honeyeater turned into a Bell miner (there was an impressively large colony).






Bird on!



4 comments:

  1. Love the scenery Pete and some super bird observations. They just look too dainty to survive to me and the thought of them hopping onto the road stresses me out. I guess they're cooler than me. It's so hot and two hundred percent humidity where I am. I can hear the maggies in my mind.

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  2. HI The first shot of the Grey shrike-thrush is excellent. Margaret

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  3. When you say the Treecreeper was being "tailed" by the Robin, you mean that the Robin was foraging just behind it to pick up any missed insects? Interesting if so! They seem like a gentle enough species to form a team.

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    1. That is certainly how it appeared Christian (your description better than mine!)

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