Clinch Gouldian finch - aviary sneaky cinch

Hard to get close to Gouldian Finches in the wild. Very hard to find any close to Townsville. Except ... except for rare escapee, or - shudder  - inmate. But let's swiftly bypass arguments for and against aviaries (I'm mostly against) because they're too vexing. Let's just stare at a beautiful bird and hope it's happy and as healthy as it appears to be behind the fine-mesh enclosure at Queen's Gardens, Townsville. This bird had a red-headed and four black-headeds for company. Nothing sophisticated about photographic technique, determine best settings, then press 100-500 zoom lens firmly against metal mesh and shoot. 

No such ethical questions attaching to shot of Plum-headed Finch, one of up to 200 flocking here and there at north end of Townsville Town Common Conservation Park lately. Biggest flock of the seasonal and only sometime visitors to the park in recent years.

Zebra Finches haven't been making many prominent appearances in the Common lately, but can usually be found year-round nearby in Belgian Gardens Cemetery and Mundy Creek grasslands. Pictured bird was surprise bonus as I sat waiting for Little Kingfisher to appear at one of its favoured feeding spots. 

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...