But at 0945 today small groups of three to eight Yellow-faced Honeyeaters came whizzing over our fence from the West into the backyard and disappeared into a thickly foliaged Sorbus tree. From there they darted into other shrubs then over into the adjoining yard. They seemed to be running scared, seeking cover every few metres. I wondered if a raptor was abroad, and looked but didn’t notice any.
As I watched over the fence they rose a metre above the neighbour’s shrubs, described a little semicircle that put them facing back the way they’d come and dived into cover. Almost immediately they rose again and continued, hedgehopping rapidly west, until out of sight.
John Layton
Holt.
