I was in the bush with a friend when I said, “I’d like a Southern Emu-wren to land, right here, in a patch of sunlight.” Considering it’s a place we visit regularly and we’d never seen or heard an emu-wren, it was a long-shot and my friend laughed and replied that I didn’t ask for much. Imagine our amazement when moments later this beautiful bird appeared.
Southern Emu-wren (Stipiturus malachurus) – male
1/500, f/5.6, ISO 1600
Southern Emu-wrens are secretive little birds that forage for insects and spiders in thick understorey; they rarely peek out to look at the wider world. I thought for a breath-holding moment that it was going to perch on a mossy log beside me but it stayed hidden until popping up a good deal further away – and I’m not complaining!
Their tails are remarkable, with six incredibly long, fine filamentous feathers that look similar to emu feathers. They are about 18cm long with 10cm of that being the length of the tail, and they weigh a miniscule 8g. Male birds have blue feathers around their eyes and on their throats, I especially like the rufous colour on his head and those lovely warm coloured underparts. I adore wrens … they are so delicate and yet can cope with extremes of temperatures from below freezing to over 40 degrees Celsius.
I often put a call out to birds and animals I’d like to see, and it’s remarkable how often they turn up – do try it, if you haven’t already.
I added six new banner images this week, they are selected randomly whenever lirralirra is opened or refreshed. I kept one of the previous set, I couldn’t bear to delete the hoodies.
Happy birding, Kim
Update on the Victorian duck shooting season
This week saw the start of a fabulous Animals Australia campaign featuring anti duck shooting ads on the back of buses. Laurie Levy, from the Coalition Against Duck Shooting, was banned from the wetlands for 6 months for holding the boat of a game officer but thanks to Lyn White and Animals Australia his absence hasn’t meant that shooters have had a carte blanche, far from it as this evocative advertisement testifies.
For more information on the moving billboards campaign see Ducks driving change – Melbourne buses
For more information on Laurie being banned from the wetlands see Waterbirds hero is silenced
Animals Australia have made it easy to send a note to MPs to express concern about your hard-earned dollars being used to promote animal cruelty: Take Action Now
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Ahh see wishes do come true! What a fabulous shot!
Thanks Sherry 🙂
Superb photo, Kim. Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful little bird – I’ll have to try your formula next time I’m in wren country to see if it works for me.
Thanks for your comment Neil, and the very best of luck when you’re in wren country next!
My ignorant self has never seen (or heard of) a Southern Emu-wren before. Such a big name for this miniscule charmer.
Thank you so much. I am so glad that you have the skills of an avian pied piper. And, as I write, I am thinking that a ‘Pied Piper’ is a bird I would like to see… I see it as living in reeds. A secretive bird, with a distinctive call.
They are listed as Federally endangered and as they forage in dense foliage they aren’t easy to find, so I don’t think you’re at all ignorant! In fact, now you’re one of a minority of Aussies who know they exist, so you must be brilliant 🙂 Your Pied Piper bird is making me think of an Australian Reed Warbler, if you have time you might like to check this link and have a look and listen to the audio: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Acrocephalus-australis
Thank you for the link.
I loved it, and its call.
I’ll be thinking of its new name when I see it next, EC’s Pied Piper
Beautiful emu-wren! And I agree about duck hunting… Just awful…
Thanks Nicole, I couldn’t agree more!