Meet a Mangrove Robin mum-to-be

Say hi to one of my Mangrove Gerygone (Gerygone levigaster) mums from the mud at the end of Orient Road. She's back on the job not so long after her last young one went whereever they vanish to. (Which means I have no idea why there are always three or four pairs amid their stretches of mangroves and no trace of yesterday's young in the wider area.)

Anyway, the gender giveaway is the divided breast plumage - from long sitting on the egg (in this case) or eggs (two sometimes, though often just one survivor) in the nest. Once the egg hatches, mum's old man will arrive with food. Perhaps a picture of them together will reveal little differences. We'll see.

Flying start with Mangrove Robins

Uncommonly early access to coastal wetlands, fast drying out given the failed wet season, means more time with my Mangrove Robins (Peneonanthe pulverulenta) at the end of Orient Road, southeast of Ingham, this year.

Seems almost certain at least three pairs are breeding along a 500-metre stretch of winding and now stagnating tidal creek.

Two nests found, one of those occupied by birds used to me being close to them when nesting.

All doing well, apart from prey in the area, which is going down fast. 

Only  time will  tell how all living things fare later this El Nino year.

Mangrove Robins must start again

Mangrove Robin (Peneonanthe pulverulenta) proposes. Man proposes. Nature disposes.

Found pair nesting in mangroves. Happy to allow close approach. Two eggs laid. Week later, no eggs, nest being re-established nearby. Start over again.

Brown-backed Honeyeaters in your face

 Hanging around nests for photographs isn't cool but when Brown-backed Honeyeaters (Ramsayornis modestus) start setting up house smack dab over the middle of the main Tyto entry track, well, what can you do?

Takes a bit more effort - and sets up more interesting images - to catch the bird at work elsewhere, above stripping nesting material from a small paperbark.

And here's another BB up a bit too close below the Tyto hide today.
Click pix to enlarge    

Crimson Finches beat the ants

Male Crimson Finch (Neochmia phaeton) by nest hole in trunk of paperbark outside the Tyto hide on Saturday. Seems the ants that took over the hole have given it up, as hoped. No evidence of birds actually attacking the ants.

Perhaps, though, just to be on safe side, Crimsons are building another nest in a fork a little above the hole but obscured from the hide.

Male was doing some weekend posing alongside the tree, amid blustery breezes and plenty of stiff showers. (More rain yesterday and even heavier falls overnight.)   
Click pix to enlarge