I took a trip to Little Desert National Park last weekend (in western
Victoria, for those who don't know). It was a pretty low-key trip, nothing
spectacular, apart from the above-mentioned white scarlet robin!
The bird was a female - evidence for this was that it was "hanging around"
with a male of normal coloration, and it visited a nest several times
during my observation of it. I couldn't tell whether the nest had anything
in it. The bird was entirely white apart from pale red on the breast in the
normal area for a female scarlet robin. The eyes were dark, which I assume
means that it was not a true albino.
It would be interesting to monitor this pair and see whether they produce
offspring, and if so what colour they are. For any one interested in seeing
the bird, directions for finding it are: Go to the car parking area for the
Pomponderoo Hill nature walk (on the east side of the park, near Horseshoe
Bend camping ground). The nest is on the RHS of the road as you face
uphill, near the second of the two parking areas, about 4m off the ground.
I expect that the female will be hard to miss!
I took some photos but haven't had them processed yet. if any turn out I
will scan them and put them up on the WWW for perusal.
Cheers, and good birdwatching
Koren
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Koren Mitchell
IT & Multimedia Unit, School of Dental Science, University of Melbourne
ph 9341 0407
Also Wed afternoon - Friday at the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health
Sciences
ph 9344 5827
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