White-fronted Honeyeater: Happy hour success this weekend

["Philip Veerman" <>]

As below: Each time I checked today, from about 10.30 a.m. till 5.00 p.m., I noted that the bird was in its usual spot and did not make me wait. However it behaved like a celebrity bride for the visitors and made people wait for about 10 - 15 minutes before making a grand entrance. Today I managed to track down the other feeding tree that it has often been seen flying towards or from. It is some foreign tree with small bell like flowers. It is nothing like a Grevillea, which is why I had not noticed it before but the bird was feeding in that. I went to the house of the tree and told the story of the bird and took some cuttings to identify the bush. I went to the Bunnings nursery and had the tree identified as a Pieris japonica of which there are many varieties but the cuttings I had matched their pot plants. The lady of the house was interested, she had Pizzey's field guide so I showed her the bird in the book. 

 

By 11.30 a.m. I was a bit sad thinking that as no one had come, maybe all who are interested had already been. Then about 10 minutes after the bird left, Rod Mackay arrived and about 5 minutes later Shaun Bagley arrived. The three of us waited about another 10 minutes for the bird to make an entrance and a good showing for a couple minutes before flying off and returning for a longer showing just a few minutes later. Peter Madvig and wife Penny arrived from Sydney at about 3.10 p.m. (they were also visiting Canberra for family visit for the weekend) and they also had a great viewing but they too had to wait about 10 minutes. The bird was calling a lot again today and yesterday.

 

Philip