181) Locally far away

Although Dirk's quest for the perfect pardalote picture continues, this one's pretty darn good!  The spotted pardalotes weren't calling (how we usually find them), so a big thumb's up to Claire for spotting the spotted pardalote high up in the tree hanging with the other leaves!




We learned from Claire (researching migrants) that these silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis) are migrants from Tasmania, coming up to join us in the subtropical climes for the winter.

If you want to know how the Silvereyes (above) get to be so pretty, we learned the secret!  Here's two Silvereyes canoodling on a branch.  First, the guy on the left prepared by fluffing out his head feathers and getting a dreamy-googley-eyed vacant expression on his face that signified "do me, baby!"  The bird on the right complied by preening him.  Next, the bird on the right assumed the wild-haired 'do me baby' expression, and the coiffed bird on the left complied.  It was really quite sweet, seeing them reveling in their morning ablutions so affectionately!  Ok, a little anthropomorphizing was called for in this situation--too cute!

Portrait of a white-plumed honeyeater displaying his namesake.