Saturday, July 15, 2006

Forty spotted Pardalote

I have to admit feeling a little guilty about not often posting photos of Tasmanian endemics, after all the blog purports to be about Tasmanian birds! A recent e-mail from Denis Abbott mentioning his difficulties in trying to photograph the Fortyspots, prompted me to give it a go. So this morning I set off for The Peter Murrell Reserve at Kingston, early, but not too bright--the weather that is, not me! After a bit of a wander, I found several and tried my hand. Well Denis, I quickly understood your difficulties. They are very small and very active, and I don't recall having so many failures, but I persevered and the accompanying images are my first offering. Quite apart from the pardalotes, there was a lot of bird activity. Other endemics were the ever present Tasmanian Nativehen, Black-headed and Yellow-throated Honeyeaters, Yellow Wattlebirds and Dusky Robins. A pair of Brown Falcons gave a spirited aerial display, and I heard a Golden Whistler calling persistently in the distance. I guess Spring is not too far off.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know, but I think shots like this, of Forty-spots, COULD be considered "showing off"!!

GREAT shots, Alan!

BirdingTas said...

Hi John, thanks for the comment! (I think). You're quite right of course, but underlying that is my 'mission' to show readers that with luck, patience and perseverance, others can follow suit. I must say that my trip to PM reserve was just very lucky. I've been many times before without seeing any, let alone being able to photograph them. Fortunately (for me) is that you don't get to see my failures!

Anonymous said...

That's true. The beauty of digital is that you can HAVE lots of failures with 'impunity', and no-one but you and your erased chip need ever know!