Four years ago at dusk on the banks of the Queanbeyan River at
roughly the latitude of Captains Flat I saw 3 finches with red beaks
together on a branch in a dense bush. It was dark, they were dark,
and I thought I could just discern faint fine lateral stripes on the
breast of the nearest finch. But I could not be certain, and they
were in an area where formerly I had only seen red-browed finches; so
made no report.
Last Tuesday 25/11/08 late morning I at last saw a Beautiful
Firetail. It was on the ground a bit further away from the river and
further downstream than the previous sighting. There was movement in
a patch of grass between tea-trees and other bushes, and it turned
out to be a small brown bird with a vivid scarlet tail, foraging for
seeds. It was far too brown to be a red-browed, so I watched on. It
then went into the nearest bush for some minutes, where I decided it
was definitely a BF - and then it flew out the far side.
Creeping along I couldn't locate it. Put one foot very gently over an
obstacle near a wombat hole -- and a small brown object shot out from
under me. For a millisecond my mind said 'mouse', but then it opened
wide its wings and flew low and directly into the mouth of a small
steep dry creek with plenty of cover.
Tried again the next day, but no luck. Came home to check on field
guides, and was delighted to find Pizzey's description 'hops through
grass like plump dark mouse'.
Pity it wasn't in the ACT (might have been a first), but at least it
is in COG's area of interest.
Muriel Brookfield
Muriel Brookfield
(02) 6251 2934
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