White-naped Striated Frogmouth

A medley of the images I’ve taken this week includes a juvenile White-naped Honeyeater, a Striated Thornbill peeking through the shrubbery and a Tawny Frogmouth sitting on his nest.

Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) – male
Canon 5DIII, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/500, f5.6, ISO 400, focal length 400

This Tawny Frogmouth is perched on a scraggly nest as it incubates what is likely to be two or three eggs. I like the way the nesting sticks can be seen above and below the branch and trust that the nest is more secure than it looks. This male (males incubate the eggs during the day) could be seen from a bridge crossing a creek. The tree was about 20 metres from the bridge and although he looks very obvious in the cropped image, initially he wasn’t easy to see. Tawny Frogmouths are masters of disguise and can be extremely difficult to spot as their colouring and posture often make them look as though they are part of the tree.

Tawny Frogmouths range from about 35cm to 55cm and although they are nocturnal and look owlish they are more closely related to nightjars. Six seriously cute images of Tawny Frogmouth youngsters can be seen at a post from last year: Seriously Cute

White-naped Honeyeater (Melithreptus lunatus) – juvenile
Canon 5DIII, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/400, f5.6, ISO 800, focal length 390mm

This little bird had me puzzled for a while. Adult White-naped Honeyeaters and Brown-headed Honeyeaters were in the area and because of the softness of this bird’s general colouring I wondered initially if it was a Brown-headed Honeyeater but the crescent above its eye is bright orange and typical of White-naped Honeyeaters.

These honeyeaters are about 14cm and weigh about 13 grams. They can be found from South Australia around to northern Queensland and in the south western corner of West Australia. They prefer to forage in the tree canopies and, like most honeyeaters, they feed on nectar and insects.

Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata)
Canon 5DIII, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/800, f6.3, ISO 400, focal length 390mm

I am ridiculously fond of thornbills. At just 10cm and weighing 7 grams they are super tiny and super hyperactive little birds. I was watching the Striated Thornbill above as it darted around in the bushes looking for insects. It flew into an oak tree for a few seconds as I tried to follow it’s haphazard movements through the lens. Then it popped its head into a ray of sunlight and I remembered to press the shutter button. If you’re not familiar with the species it should help with scale to see that the thornbill is smaller than the emerging oak leaves.

Happy birding, Kim

~  Thank you for your visit and comments.

~  If you’d like to receive a weekly email informing you that lirralirra has been updated please add your email address to the ‘subscribe’ box above right.