Honeyeaters have been moving through my GBS site in Chapman this
week. On Wednesday and particularly on Thursday I heard my first
Crescent Honeyeater for this autumn, but it didn’t seem to be around for the
weekend, when on Friday and yesterday a Fuscous was calling quite loudly in the
mixed feeding flock (MMF), which also included a couple of White-naped.
Neither were around today, when the highlight was a group of at least eight
Brown-headed, rare visitors to my garden since the fires. Even though I
was working quite close by, four of them couldn’t resist the water bath (this
species loves water).
In amongst the MFF were at least 3 Eastern Spinebills, including one still
in immature plumage, and up to 3 White-eared have also been quite conspicuous,
as have Red Wattlebirds with up to 7 calling to and chasing each other. In
total 8 honeyeater species, the most for some time.
With the good growth as a result of the rains over the past 9 months the
smaller birds seem to have returned, and though the number of birds in the MFF
is diminishing, it is still a daily highlight. Unfortunately the male
Scarlet Robin and the Grey Fantails present over Easter seem to have moved
on.
Jack Holland
