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Spotted pardalote is the “proper” common name for Pardalotus punctatus – one of Australia’s tiniest, loveliest, shyest birds.
Although moderately common in all of the reasonably fertile parts of Australia (the east coast, the south-east, and the south-west corner) it is seldom seen closely enough to enable identification.
On the morning of 16 February 2025, I at last managed to take some halfway decent photos of one.
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Homo sapiens is not the only species which includes a small number of lucky individuals who have “discovered” the “secret” beach, just east of Anvil Beach.
Another mammal also swims and fishes there.
It is safe to assume that Arctocephalus forsteri is the more successful fisher of the pictured, reef-sheltered waters.
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On WA’s wonderfully wild south coast there are some calm days, and a few truly safe places to bathe or swim.
16 February 2025 was such a day, and the “secret beach” (just east of Anvil Beach) usually offers safe bathing in perfectly reef-sheltered waters.
As evident in the featured image, even on this exceptionally calm day, the ocean-facing side of the reef gave occasional hints of the ocean’s oomph.
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This post’s featured image includes the father-daughter co-stars of #9 in this series,
I took this post’s photo half an hour earlier, at 10.19 am, just after we had parked the car, and just before we headed down to our favourite “secret beach”.
It is immediately east of Anvil Beach.
Mid-morning on 16 February 2025 was “singular” in several respects..
On no other occasion had we seen the sea so flat, off Anvil Beach.
Never before had the car park been so “full”.
And we saw a seal…which had everyone’s approval!
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“Stay here with Mom. Dad’s going fishing.”
In the pictured instance no such words had been spoken, nor contemplated.
It was a quiet delight to observe a father who so well understood that “joyful fishing is not just about catching fish”.
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Some birds – individuals & species – prefer to be alone, when drinking or bathing.
Others are happy to “share the facilities”…or they have to share them; flocking birds may be within a group of many – even many thousands – of individuals.
On some afternoons in February 2025 (near Youngs Siding, between Albany & Denmark) the “line up” at the birdbath reminded me of “the six o’clock swill” – an unlovely feature of most Australasian pub “culture” for surprisingly much of the 20th century.
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Two descriptions of the pictured, “secretive” species:
Red-eared firetails are usually only glimpsed briefly, if at all, as they move rapidly and discreetly through their habitat. (Wikipedia)
It is a solitary species and is generally found in the most retired spots in the thickets, where its mournful, slowly drawn-out note only serves to add to the loneliness of the place. Its powers of flight, although sometimes rapid, would seem to be feeble, as they are merely employed to remove it from tree to tree. The natives of the mountain districts of Western Australia have a tradition that the first bird of this species speared a dog and drank its blood, and thus obtained its red bill. (John Gilbert, as cited in John Gould’s Handbook, published in 1865)
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Generally, birds make very sure that they get properly wet, no matter how shallow is the available “bath”.
The pictured individual is a grey fantail, Rhipidura albiscapa.
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No prize for guessing that you are looking at a male of its species.
This species – Malurus elegans, the Red-winged fairywren – can only be looked at in Australia’s southwestern corner.
Shy and secretive. Difficult to observe, says The Complete Guide to Australian Birds.
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Yesterday afternoon, overlooking an “iconic” Perth beach, I had an astonishing avian encounter.
I in no way resemble any alleged version of St Francis, and Cottesloe is very far from Assisi, but…
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