Honeyeaters

Some Callistemons on our smaller lawn are flowering well at the moment.  They are doing a good job of attracting Red Wattlebirds and Easter Spinebills at present.  I expect Noisy Friarbirds to get in on the act when they can spare time from nest building down at the Creek.

You can see the red wattles in most of the photos.  This first one also shows the nice yellow belly.

This photo is in because it illustrates the way the birds contort their bodies while feeding: note the position of the tail relative to the head.

Spiffy photo rule: showing the striations and flecking.

This one is focussed enough to show the primaries and tail feathers quite well.

Finally a Spinebill paused for long enough to give a decent image.  One day I hope to get a photo of one hovering like a hummingbird.

The Noisy Friarbirds seemed disinclined to come up to the Callistemon so I went down to the ford to see what was occurring.  The nest seems to be well on the way, although currently unoccupied.

One of the owners did turn up spotted me and took off.  I didn't want to disturb their endeavours so walked away.  Then I spotted a Friarbird annoying grasshoppers and got a couple of reasonable images from 20m away.

Its easy to see why one of their vernacular names is Leatherhead!