Melaleuca consists of nothing more than a small tin mine, airstrip, ranger station, bushwalker huts, and a bird blind. Nestled in Southwest National Park, it is the only breeding location for the Orange-bellied Parrot and it will be my home for the next few days. I arrived by air this morning and after getting set up decided to go check out the blind and see if I could see the birds. It was a very hot day so the birds were nowhere to be seen, so I quickly retreated to the shade to wait for the cool of the evening.
Sure enough, as the day cooled and evening approached, the birds began to come into the feeding station set up at the blind. Throughout the breeding season, volunteers maintain and monitor a feeding station in order to obtain data regarding banded parrots. The volunteers put out a small amount of seed and then monitor which birds come in to feed. Banded birds can be identified as individuals and this data haleps researchers to understand more about the population dynamics of these birds.
Iset up my blind outside the building so that I didn't have to photograph through the glass and sat down to wait. The first parrots showed up at about 6:30 and I was able to get a few photos of these exquisite little birds. They also were my 500th species Ihave seen since arriving in Australia in July. Throughout the evening, the birds came and went and I was able to get a few photos. I think this will be a great few days and I look forward to photographing more tomorrow.
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