Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Grey-headed Robin wins tug-of-worm

Start of winning haul of worm by Grey-headed Robin (Heteromyias cinereifrons) yesterday on rainforest track near my recent Cassowary sighting. 


Long worm provided capture in tasty parts.


Plenty of Large-billed Scrubwrens (Sericornis magnirostra) in same area, but as always hard to get clear shots.


Sighting of the day though was uncommon Pied Monarch (Arses kaupi), sunning sprawled along high limb in midafternoon. Chased bird for 30 minutes before getting this terrible 'lucky' angle.


More common and also frustratingly hard to see, Spotted Catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis). Much 'meowing' through the day.


Worth a mention, two female Victoria's Riflebirds (Ptiloris victoriae) very high under dark canopy. One seemed to be imitating male display. Breeding starts about now. Embarrassing, because I'd just told touring birder species wasn't showing up these days! Sorry, mate!
Click pix to enlarge

5 comments:

mick said...

All lovely birds and great photos - as always! I especially like the photos of the robin with the worm.

Anonymous said...

Tony, do you think the 'female' VB displaying was an immature male?

Tyto Tony said...

Hi Mick: Just as well we're none of us worm lovers, I guess ;-)

Hi Barbara: Thought about gender. No expert on riflebirds and plumage changes, so looked in all guides. No help whatsoever. Went to web. No help either. So, have no idea how soon males diverge from plainer browns. Can only say in this case both birds showed strongly 'female' markings. A side issue: in Iron Range over four weeks I always saw more Magnificent males than females. But in Victoria's and Paradise areas over the years I've always seen lot more 'females'.

finchpolis said...

Great photos ... especially the robins ... I like it ...

Tyto Tony said...

Thanks for visiting, finchpolis.

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