This afternoon in Schofields, NW Sydney (Between Blacktown and Windsor),
I was walking with an umbrella in my hand, and a little girl on my back,
so I was without the binoculars when I saw something I've never seen
here before.
It was a wet, grey day, and in grass less than a metre high, near a
small dam, and perhaps 100M from forested bushland, I saw a flock of
small dark birds (dark brown or black, possibly with a bit of red on the
sides below the wings). When they were 'doing their thing' they were
either hopping about on the ground or perched on stalks of grass. But
when there was even a single call from any other bird (eg, noisy miners)
they all fled quickly and directly to trees, or more often to blackberry
thickets and other dense bush. And then within 10 seconds or so, they
would relax and fly back to where they had been, sometimes with even
more members joining them. They were very 'flighty', but never scared
off for long.
None came any closer to me and my daughter than perhaps 15M. There were
a good 100 or more in the flock.
When I passed by an hour later, I saw only a much smaller number of them
in the same immediate area. But light was poor and I couldn't search the
area any more. I heard an unidentified bird call at this time (couldn't
see the source). It was not a bad match to the nutmeg mannikin call I
looked up.
I'm guessing they were nutmeg mannikins.
Does this sound right to those who know more than I do, which isn't a lot?
Cheers and thanks in advance
gc
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