Striated Fieldwren

I very, very rarely get see this exquisite little bird and I get to photograph it even less often. I’ve seen it three times in the past few years, the first time was a bit controversial and the recent siting was a bit funny.

I took these photographs moments before sunset on the day I saw the amazing American Golden Plover at Werribee’s Western Treatment Plant. We’d wandered down to the Austin Road area where a beaut group of eight Brolga were interacting with each other with ungainly grace.

The light was so poor that I had to use high ISO and a low shutter speed for handheld shots with a heavy lens. On top of that the three shots are heavily cropped. These points had me thinking I was photographing a distant Golden-headed Cisticola – both species are 11-12cm. It wasn’t until I checked the shots that I realised what I’d been watching.

I think Striated Fieldwrens are pretty gorgeous. I’m always fond of birds with warm colours like this and I especially like their bold, blackish streaks. Something you may not have noticed are its pinkish legs and feet.

The shot above is one I took several years ago. It shows the Striated Fieldwren’s usual stance with its tail cocked. It was also a few years ago that I was taking some interstate visitors around the treatment plant as part of a birding conference. Striated Fieldwrens are often difficult to see as they forage in low, dense foliage, although they sing from the top of shrubs during the breeding season and will also emerge sometimes to investigate visitors. And this is what caused the problem. We caught a glimpse of a Striated Fieldwren as it popped up from the saltbush. It didn’t stay long enough for a photograph, preferring to dive back into cover. The visitors wanted to use callback, to play a recording of the bird’s warbling trilling call, to entice it back into view so they could capture a photograph. Striated Fieldwrens have a fairly limited range along the coastal areas of South Australia across Victoria to New South Wales, and Tasmania so it wasn’t a bird they couldn’t see in their home state.

I understand the frustration of this but I am passionately opposed to using callback as I believe that a photograph is not as important as the subject. I can’t understand why anyone who cares about birds would want to disturb them just to get a shot. There can be serious implications for birds that are disturbed in this way, it can impact their energy levels, their breeding capacity and their nesting success. I have spent years hoping to see a Mallee Emu-wren. On my last visit I was on a track they are known to inhabit when a couple of birders stopped for a chat and were pretty shocked that I chose not to use playback. I shudder at the thought of the number of times those poor birds are disturbed. Hopefully I’ll get to see them one day!

I have been interviewed about ethical bird photography, and a Birding Today video podcast, and an article can be found on my ethics page: Kim Wormald lirralirra – Ethics

So, no apologies that the photographs of this beautiful bird aren’t clearer – hopefully one day they’ll be happy to pose for me a little closer and in better light.

Happy birding, Kim

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