Thursday, January 21, 2010

Zebras come out of hiding


Seen no Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata) for years anywhere near Tyto, or indeed Ingham, but came upon three small groups along a grazing land road today.



Knee-length grasses hid them most of the time. So it became one of those mornings when the barbed wire was a blessing.



The wire also supported several Horsfield's Bushlarks (Mirafra javanica). Managed to bring the old Toyota Camry hide to a halt without scaring the above bird off. 


Finally, a teaser. Found a rare pair of birds today. Stood for more than 30 minutes watching and hearing them whizzing above and about me in the open grasslands. Too fast and erratic in flight for any hope of a picture. Perhaps on the barbed wire tomorrow...    

5 comments:

mick said...

The Zebra Finches are beautiful! How does one stop on the side of the road to get photos and NOT have the traffic coming behind very upset?? Maybe your roads have less traffic than those around here.

Denis Wilson said...

First thought about your buzzing birds was "Swifts".
But they won't land on your barbed wire.
Next guess - Rainbow Birds (Bee Eaters).
Failing that, I shall have to wait.
Cheers
Denis

Tyto Tony said...

Hi Mick: Unsealed back roads are the go. But on major roads I just pull right off seal if I'm really chasing something.

Hi Denis: Zitting Cisticolas in hyperactive wing and vocal mode. Very difficult species to find these days - outside of a few 'hot spots' further south.

Anonymous said...

Sadly the only Zebra Finches we see are in cages! They are such gorgeous little things

Gouldiae said...

G'day Tony,
I recall back in my seldom confessed to 'avicultural' days, the zeb was a very popular species for breeding mutations of all sorts of colour combinations, even an almost pure black. Like the budgie. Shame really, you can't get anything much more beautiful than the real deal.
I also recall reading an article on the top breeder of zebs in the US, including photographs of her set up - cages the size of shoe boxes throughout the house!
Regards,
Gouldiae.

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