I spent an interesting morning in the Meehan Range on Tuesday. I had already seen Common Bronzewing, Black-headed, Strong-billed and Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebills, Dusky and Scarlet Robins, to name a few, and was looking for Tasmanian Scrubwren in Stringy Bark Creek, when I heard the unmistakable call of a Beautiful Firetail. They give a monosyllabic "weee", which I can give a passable imitation
of by whistling as I draw air in (rather than out!). Whether the birds are fooled is a moot point, but I did manage to get close enough to take the shots shown here. They did get a bit frantic, caused, no doubt, by the probability of having a nest nearby. I neither found or looked for a nest, but I have found many in the past. Often seeming to use Banksias (marginata), I suspect here they were using the Native Cherry, which abounds.
I spent an interesting morning in the Meehan Range on Tuesday. I had already seen Common Bronzewing, Black-headed, Strong-billed and Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebills, Dusky and Scarlet Robins, to name a few, and was looking for Tasmanian Scrubwren in Stringy Bark Creek, when I heard the unmistakable call of a Beautiful Firetail. They give a monosyllabic "weee", which I can give a passable imitation 
of by whistling as I draw air in (rather than out!). Whether the birds are fooled is a moot point, but I did manage to get close enough to take the shots shown here. They did get a bit frantic, caused, no doubt, by the probability of having a nest nearby. I neither found or looked for a nest, but I have found many in the past. Often seeming to use Banksias (marginata), I suspect here they were using the Native Cherry, which abounds.
3 comments:
Gorgeous bird.
Alan,
It will be interesting to get out soon and see what damage the fire did in this section of the Meehan Range.
Hi John,
Yes it will. I fear the worst. Perhaps it was prophetic that the last posting was of "firetails". It has had fire through there before. I had a study site there from about 1980, and the fire went through in 1985.It is only just fully recovering. I'm actually fairly limited in getting out for a while, post eye op., which appears successful, although at present I'm still sporting an eye patch!
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