The Golden-shouldered Parrot continues to elude me but I will give it one more morning before I head north once more. I had a lovely morning and afternoon sitting and waiting for the parrots but they never showed. In fact, the morning in general was rather quiet while in the afternoon I had a bit more activity. For nearly two hours this afternoon, a variety of honeyeaters, mostly Blue-faced Honeyeaters and Little Friarbirds, were bathing in the small pond. However, honeyeaters don't bathe like most birds by simply wading into the water at the water's edge. Instead, they fly over the water and dive into it and then fly to a nearby perch where they shake off the water. The first time I witnessed this behavior I thought I was seeing a kingfisher until I got my binoculars on the bird. So far I have witnessed the following honeyeaters doing this: Noisy Miner, Little Friarbird, Blue-faced, White-throated, and Yellow Honeyeaters. I have never seen any other birds do it, except for the Forest Kingfishers (above) that were also batheing this afternoon. |
