Rufous-crowned Emu-wren, Rufous Whistler and a Rufous, I mean Hooded Robin

Well it was a bit of a rufous day. Saw some Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens thanks to a local birder and their extremely reliable information. They know who they are and I thank them sincerely for sharing their information with me.

I went to the wrong spot to start with, and then found the right spot after remembering one of the vital parts of information. It took about an hour and a half but I was really chuffed when I heard and then saw these beautifully coloured emu-wrens. The shots aren't fantastic, I think there may be a bit of camera shake as this was only the second time I have actually seen these birds.

Rufous-crowned Emu-wren

 

On the same day and in the same location, I saw a Rufous Whistler who did an amazing act of multi-tasking - whistling while holding the grub. It didn't seem to worried by my presence and sat on a branch not far up from where I was standing. As you will see by the last photos it was almost as if it was parading his catch to me.

Rufous Whistler

And finally, by far the friendlest birds I have encountered recently was a Hooded Robin with a juvenile who I suspect has only just learnt to fly. My first indication of their presence was the peeping, demanding sound of the juvenile. The sound moved and so did I, and then I spotted them in the same location as a similar up-close-and-personal experience I had had with a Hooded Robin previously (you can view that post here). I did wonder if it wasn't the same original Hooded Robin but only a banded bird would truly tell me that and this is a wild bird with no bands.

The two birds were very accommodating, and sat on a low branch to start with about 3 metres away. I moved around the nearby bushes in an attempt not to scare them off, and sat down on a picnic table, but they had gone, or so I thought. Within minutes the adult was back, closely followed by the ever-chirping juvenile. I took some shots within 5 metres then the adult flew out of view, only to land within less than 2 metres from me, again followed by the juvenile which landed a bit further away, but still sounding hungry. Eventually they flew off, but I was then amazed at how trusting some birds really can be. Hope you enjoy (the many) photos of these two wonderful birds.

Hooded Robin and juvenile

Corroboree Rock - Honeyeaters and a wonderful Hooded Robin

Corroboree Rock is about 50 kms east of Alice Springs along the Ross River Highway. Currently, the flowering gums are everywhere, and, so are the honeyeaters. Spiny-cheeked, Singing, Brown, Grey-headed and White-plumed honeyeaters are everywhere around the walk around the rock itself. It is an easy walk, but when there are so many birds, the 15 minute walk can take a lot longer. Along the creek-line is the main action, but the flowers and therefore birds are pretty much the whole way around. With the wonderful rain we've had, the birds have all been mating and there is an abundance of insistent youngsters all demanding their food from their parents.

These are the main flowers the honeyeaters were feeding around:

One of the busiest and noisiest was the brown honeyeater. To my delight, there were a few young ones around, and I can't recall taking a photo of a young one before:

The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater was also fairly noisy, and even managed to find time to check out the surroundings with a Black-faced Woodswallow:

Grey-headed Honeyeaters were the "fluttering" birds I could hear constantly, normally only seen through the gaps in the branches and leaves, but this one sat long enough for a half-decent photo:

But by far the most enjoyable experience was the Hooded Robin that came and foraged right near the table under the trees on the path to the right as you face the rock. Obviously quite used to people, I could have held out my hand for him to hop onto at one point. I felt quite privileged to have him go about his foraging without worrying too much about me or the camera: