Sunday, October 26, 2008

Honeyeaters in the bird bath

New Holland Honeyeaters love our bird bath. Now that the weather is warming up it's not unusual to see a whole gang of them. When they descend the other species get chased away, quick smart. I managed to capture this short clip by hiding behind the wheelie bin with my camera then creeping out as they were darting around. Seems to work!





Saturday, October 25, 2008

Singing Honeyeater nesting


This fuzzy photo is my attempt to focus on a Singing Honeyeater nest in our garden. It was taken a few weeks ago in early October when the nest was being built. At the time two birds were busily gathering twigs, leaves and cobwebs to build this beautifully constructed cup-shaped nest.

Now the egg(s) have been laid and the birds are incubating the eggs. One bird is spending most of the day sitting on the nest. It's so well hidden in the nest, you can just glimpse its black beak poking out.

There are two birds, but just one seems to be on the nest. She flies out for brief breaks throughout the day.

According to my Australian bird guide book the incubation stage for Singing Honeyeaters is 10-14 days. I'll keep a careful watch over the next few days, so as not to scare them off!