Honeyeater Seahorse

Whenever we spend time with birds we’re likely to see some pretty funny poses, luckily I sometimes remember to press the shutter button.

New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)
1/2000, f/8.0, ISO 1600

Regular lirralirra readers (hi lovely birders!) will know that I have a soft spot for preening images as they show the bird is comfortable with the photographer’s presence. It fascinates me that birds can fluff their feathers so much and this New Holland Honeyeater certainly made me smile. The throat area would be impossible to preen with the bill but this bird is doing its best to get as high as it can.

New Holland Honeyeaters are listed as being of Least Concern but I’m seeing fewer than I used to, though a pair did raise some fledglings in my garden earlier this month. I only found out because I was busy weeding when I noticed the adults returning to the area and looking at me unhappily. I abandoned the weed piles (which I only cleared today) and watched from a window. I was delighted to see two little branchers being fed.

A few weeks ago I asked if anyone had been to the Australian Museum in Sydney and noticed my image of The Pollinator; I was curious to know how it had been displayed. This week I was tagged (thank you Tam) in a video of a book launch, Nat Isaac’s ‘Every Woman’s Guide to Saving the Planet. The background for the talk is The Pollinator, I still can’t believe the size of it – it’s so exciting to see our native birds being showcased like this. The video can be seen here

Happy birding

Kim