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SUCCESS!!
I went looking for the Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens
at Pierces Creek forest early this morning and was rewarded with one decent
view.
I headed out nice and early, and was out there
looking for them by 6am. I saw one within 20 minutes, low down in a bush in the
general area that they have been seen before. It was a very lucky sighting: I
thought I detected some movement in the bushes ahead, and upon lifting my bins
to investigate, I was rewarded with about 5 seconds view of a nice CRHW. This
was around 10m away, through many intervening branches and foliage.
After that, around 6:30am, several birds started
calling, although most of them only called with snatches of song, not very long
or loud. In fact, a lot of them were doing mimicry, and I'm pretty sure they
gave Silveryes and E Goldfinches a go, both very expertly mimiced. I ended up
having 2 or three more glimpses of the birds as they either flew away or bounced
out of view. No more views through the bins. This calling lasted for about half
an hour, before all went silent again and I couldn't locate them again.
Throughout, no call playback used.
Whilst searching for the CRHW, I also stumbled
across several Painted Button-Quail (there were at least two). In fact, once I
was moving so slowly and quietly (chasing CRHWs) that a PBG walked straight past
me, giving me very nice views of this elusive bird. I flushed it/them several
more times, and from around 6:20-7:10am they were calling as well.
I was very pleased to get to see these two elusive
birds, both extremely hard to get good views of in this area. The heathwren was
a lifer for me, which was great.
Just one question: do some CRHWs have dark eyes?
(as in juveniles, or some individuals?) The bird that I got good views of
certainly looked like it had dark eyes, although all the material I can get my
hands on suggests that they normally have pale eyes. I am certain it was a CRHW,
no doubt about that. Maybe it was the low light or the distance or the many
branches in between?
Cheers
Tobias
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