Hello all,
I was recently in the Menindee Lakes area near Broken Hill, far
western NSW with my husband. White-winged Fairy Wrens (WWFW) abound
in the area. On our last afternoon there, we both saw a male which
appeared to be black in all the parts where it should be blue. The
view was close, say 5m through binos, and unhindered, but brief. The
group flew off. We relocated them a minute or so later, when my
husband saw the male again (how can we know if it was the same
bird?), but declared it to be blue. He said that we must have made a
mistake. Perhaps he was correct, and I let it slide. As black WWFWs
should only be on an island off the WAust coast, I assumed I was
losing my marbles.
I didn't give it another thought, until last night, when I received a
call from Geoff Looney, a birdwatching and fishing guide at Menindee.
Geoff was ringing to confirm that he, also, had finally seen the
Olive-backed Orioles (out of regular distribution area) which we had
seen on 16.8.00 in Kinchega NP. Geoff also said that he had just seen
a WWFW male, with black where it should be white. How very
interesting, I thought. I asked him if perhaps he might have mistaken
the colour in poor light, and he claimed that this was not the case.
Then I told him that we also had seen what might have been such a
specimen after we had said goodbye to him.
I am wary of claiming that I saw a pied bird, but I did think at the
time that it was. I'd appreciate some opinion from others, and would
also ask people going to that area to be on the lookout. We saw our
bird on the track next to the railway between Menindee and Copi
Hollow Caravan Park.
Cheers,
Jill
--
Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Qld
26º 51' 152º 56'
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