Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
The first two hours of daylight at “our” birdbath were sometimes even more frenetic than was the “afternoon rush” depicted in this series’ previous chapter.
After 8.30 am, however, the “morning peak” had passed, and a reclusive, petite bird could bathe, alone, and enjoy at least a semblance of privacy and calm.
Within a not very large radius of where we were staying is all of the pictured species’ habitat
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As is true of humans’ bathrooms, bathhouses and drinking venues, other species’ “watering holes” can be a “serene place of refuge” at one time of day, and “mayhem” at another.
On 08 February 2025, 3pm to 4 pm was “peak hour” at the birdbath in front of “our” cottage near Youngs Siding.
It looked sorely in need of an Air Traffic Control Tower!
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At least between the pictured species, “Two honeyeater species, sharing a birdbath” is a perfectly unremarkable, “normal” event.
On the left – sticking out his or her long, “brush-tipped” nectar-collecting tongue – is a New Holland honeyeater, Phylidonyris novaehollandiae.
On the right is a bird that is very clearly a species in its own right, but was not recognised as such until 2010.
It never really was a subspecies of the (eastern Australian) White-naped honeyeater, Melithreptus lunatus.
At last blessed with a single, “proper” common name – and its own “Latin” species name – Gilbert’s honeyeater, Melithreptus chloropsis, lives only in Western Australia’s southwest.
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At 3.45 pm on 08 February 2025 we watched a red-eared firetail finch (of whatever gender) and a (definitely-male) red-winged fairywren share the same feeder.
It was the first time in my life that I had seen members of both species within so very few millimetres of each other.
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For nearly a fortnight, we watched birds each morning and afternoon, as they came in to drink and/or bathe, to eat, to flaunt.
Most of the time, each particular drinking or bathing “event” involved just one species; when bathing, just one individual was usually in the bath at one time.
Occasionally, however….
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Both photos feature the same individual.
They were taken within two minutes of each other.
Q: are rosellas cockatoos?
A: no.
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The western rosella is the smallest of Australia’s six rosella species
It is also the most sexually dimorphic; it is not at all difficult to discern an adult western rosella’s gender – a marked contrast to other rosellas.
The male of the species is the more exuberantly-colourful, but the female’s more subtly-variegated plumage is at least as lovely.
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This series has twice featured an image of a male red-winged fairywren, in “flaunting” mode.
Females are more “drab”, but are very attractive – and perky – in their own right.
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I am almost certain that the pictured bird is a spotted scrubwren, Sericornus maculatus – the southwestern Australian version of southeastern Australia’s white-browed scrubwren.
The “spotted” and the “white-browed” were formerly regarded as two subspecies.
Since 2019, the prevailing classification regards them as two distinct species…albeit ones that are known to interbreed where their ranges overlap, around Adelaide.
The spotted scrubwren lives in densely vegetated places along the coastal “fringe”, from Adelaide, through to Shark Bay.
Currently, four subspecies are generally recognised.
Glimpsed fleetingly, spotted scrubwrens appear to be “drab”, but a closer view reveals that their plumage is in fact finely detailed.
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Whilst enjoying coffee on the Surf Gallery’s verandah we also enjoyed a close encounter with the pictured individual.
Click this for more info on this splendid species, which is endemic to near-coastal, well-vegetated places in southwest WA.
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