Silvereyes are cute little characters with a distinctive ring of white feathers around their eyes and a weedy little contact call.
Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 1600
The image above made me smile with the thought that soon the equivalent of an entire fig would be inside this tiny bird. Silvereyes are about 11cm in length and they weigh about 11 grams.
Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 1600
The Silvereye in the image above interests me because of the grey feathers on its head. I have over a thousand images of Silvereyes but none show so much grey on the head. Presumably it’s a young bird but I have images of younger Silvereyes with fully green heads – if anyone can clarify this I’d be grateful. This is another time when I wish I owned HANZAB (Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds) and could look up the different colour variations of the species across Australia.
Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 1600
Silvereyes are remarkably agile and remarkably fast. They flit from fig to fig as another bird arrives to take their place. Watching them feed reminds me of watching Zebra Finch drink at desert rock pools where they take turns to move down to the water in an almost orderly fashion.
Happy birding, Kim
Update on the Victorian duck shooting season
A dedicated group of rescuers scouted around Lake Toolondo, near Horsham, during the Easter weekend. They took 9 wounded birds to receive veterinary care and found a further 86 birds that had been left to rot, including 18 endangered Freckled Duck, 27 protected Eurasian Coot and 21 protected Blue-winged Shovelers. CADS is launching a Supreme Court challenge in an attempt to have Lake Toolondo closed to shooting for the remainder of the season to protect the 11 Freckled Duck found by the department to be still living at the wetlands. Freckled Duck are one of the world’s rarest waterbirds – will anyone be held accountable for the 18 that were shot?
Ongoing effort continues in the hopes of quickly clarifying the issue of illegal hunting at the Western Treatment Plant, a Ramsar site of international significance.
Individual landholders continue to deal with incursions on their properties by shooters, with shooting around their properties, shot birds and discarded rubbish.
If you’d like to add your voice to thousands of other compassionate environmentalists please contact your MP and/or add your name to (and share) these petitions:
Ban Duck Shooting – ALV petition to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, currently has 18,000 signatures – up 1,000 during the past week
Ban Recreational Duck Shooting – AA petition to add Victoria to the list of states that have already imposed a ban, currently has 41,000 signatures – up 1,000 during the past week
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Great birds and that first shot made me question what the heck you had found!
It made me smile too Sherry, when I thought it looked like a bird with a very large tum!
great shots kim. lucky i don’t give a fig about my figs!
And lucky for me that the Silvereyes do give a fig about figs 🙂
Petitions signed.
Silvereyes and figs provide very mixed messages for me. They are completely enchantingl little birds and move so quickly that they make greased lightening seem slow and predictable.
HOWEVER, as a child it was my job to clean up the depreciations they caused to our fig tree. They were at the first ripe fig seconds after it matured. Hollowed out figs go mouldy very quickly. Cleaning up that mess means I still cannot face fresh figs. Just the same, I love the birds. And your images.
Thanks so much for signing the petitions EC. You paint an evocative image of cleaning up mouldy figs – it must have been an absolutely horrible job to still be affecting you. I hope you’re able to face fresh figs again one day soon.
They are so sweet! Thanks for the duck shooting update as well. Hopefully the courts and the govt will do the right thing.
I agree with you regarding the courts and the government!
simply gorgeous 🙂
I’m glad you like them Genevieve, thank you