Birds

I've been reading an Australian bird magazine today and I’m astounded at the number of birds featured in its pages, some of which are totally unknown to me.

The photographs on many of the pages astonish me with their sharpness and clarity and I wonder at exactly how the photographers manage to capture their subjects with a click of the shutter.  Patience, binoculars, the right camera equipment and, as one photo in the magazine shows, preparedness to put up with some discomfort while waiting for birds to arrive, no doubt all contribute to maybe acquiring that once in a lifetime photo.

Among the photos in the magazine that prompted me to stop and take a second look was the one below; the Kolombangara Mountain White-eye, a tiny, fluffy, green bird with a distinguishing white marking around its eyes.  While we have many varieties Silver-eyes in Australia these fluffy little birds hail from the Solomon Islands, and are found on Kolombangara Island which is home to an extinct volcano.

Photo:courtesy Andrew Cox

Advertising, the lifeblood of printed magazines, covers many options for people wanting to take birding holidays, accommodation offering birdlife in abundance at the back door and a station in the West Australian outback where guests can camp in the bush or stay in the National Trust listed homestead.

More accessible and achievable was the list of places around Broome in the north-west of Western Australia where there is a Bird Observatory, beaches with a variety of shore birds and guided tours available.  I might just add Broome and its birdlife  to the bucket list which will be drawn up in the New Year.

If you would like to learn about the birds of the Great Western Woodlands of Western Australia, which extends from east of the wheatbelt before fading into the treeless Nullabor Plain, click here and all will be revealed.