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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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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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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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As dusk began on 05 April 2024, we made our way back from Peel Inlet’s edge and adjacent (unseasonably dry) samphire-dominated wetland.
Before our return to suburbia we skirted some mostly-intact, mostly-native scrub/woodland.
We “met” a few kangaroos, but by 5. 51 pm we were the only humans within view,
Unexpectedly, something lovely – something flaunting – briefly appeared..
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If the relevant timepiece registered only minutes and hours, it would have said “9. 23 am” through all of this post’s eight images, which are presented in chronological order.
As it happens, my camera also records seconds, so I know that only 39 of them elapsed from first to eighth photo.
From image “1” through “7” only 21 seconds passed.
A recently-bathed Superb Fairy Wren – Malurus cyaneus – can adopt a great many different positions within such a “short” time!
One CommentI am lucky enough to live in a city where it is utterly commonplace – even on a busy street – to encounter wattlebirds…and many other birds.
(the featured image’s wattlebird was photographed in Grant Street, Cottesloe. All photos copyright Doug Spencer)
Even inner-urban railway stations are quite busy “airports”.
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