Assorted avian images

As the year gets close to finishing I found a few interesting birds on 29 December.  As I happened to be passing close to Kelly's Swamp I thought to check it out for unusual birds.

There were none of the really unusual ones present but the sighting of 3 Royal Spoonbills was a pleasant reward.

A report to the COG chatline from earlier in the day covered 31 Lathams Snipe present on the swamp, including 23 in an area cleared of reeds in front of a hide.  Such numbers were not visible at mid-day when I was present - much hotter - but one posed very cooperatively close to the hide I was using.

At home there were a couple of interesting interactions between birds and exotic plants.  We are developing some borders of lavender and this was popular with Crimson Rosellas.
I have included a second zoomed image showing that the lavender was being eaten, not just used as a cool roost on a warm day.
In the same bed the Kniphofia (red hot pokers) are starting to hit their straps,
and are being well visited by honeyeaters.  The image below shows a Yellow-faced Honeyeater
During the day I also saw Eastern Spinebills and White-eared Honeyeater dining .  Photos have been  added to a January post.

If you have got this far you might also be interested in a couple of posts made today on other blogs.

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