On Monday 1 Dec. we drove down the Surf Coast in hopes of showing an
American visitor a Rufous Bristlebird. No luck at Point Addis where a
cold southerly was discouraging most birds - though we did see
Blue-winged Parrots and a Rufous Whistler. The Bristlebird/s uttered a
few notes and then lay low. After an hour we went on to Point Roadknight
(Anglesea) in hopes -unfulfilled - of Hooded Plovers.
We idled about a bit trying for photos of Red Wattlebirds and Singing
Honeyeater, then started up the track leading over the end of the Point
from the car-park. Whereupon a Rufous Bristlebird strolled out from the
bushes and grass on the right, and paused in mid-track to inspect us
with its crown-feathers raised in a crest. The rufous colouring on head
was very bright, almost red-chestnut, and the pale eye-rings quite
noticeable. Wings also rufous but not so bright. The long tail was
carried at quite a jaunty angle. It then moved off into the bushes on
the left of the track, neither running nor wasting time.
It was a brilliant sighting, though brief, and cheered us all up, even
though we saw no Hooded Plovers at all. It is not a bird which could be
confused with anything else whatever. We were lucky to see it at a
moment when the sun was shining quite brightly.
Anthea Fleming
Ivanhoe, Vic.
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