231) When the Red, Red Robin comes bop bop bobbin' along

Scarlet Robin

Winter is closing in here Down Under and birds are on the move. The shorebirds have largely left on their huge migrations north. The locals are also moving about - from south to the warmer northern climes, and down from the higher elevations to the coast and lower areas. We headed to Sundown NP via Girraween and were super excited to see this Scarlet Robin flitting about, snatching bugs from a farm paddock. We see them very rarely as we are on the northern edge of their range.  Their plumage is nearly fluorescent, it's that vivid!  This was the first robin of our weekend robin tour.  Just as an aside, the only commonality between global 'robins' is is their sometimes reddish-hued breast.  They are different genera--American robins are thrushes, European robins are chats, and Australasian robins are in the genus Petroica, a genus with unclear relationships to other bird families. 
 

Hooded Robin

Arriving at Sundown, we fairly quickly spotted a Hooded Robin and his lady-friend who are either moving through or are there for the winter.  They are generally not known to be migrants, but we've only seen them at Sundown in winter.

Eastern Yellow Robin

Rose Robin

But we were on a Robin roll and soon picked up on Eastern Yellow Robin who seemed to gleefully follow us around - something we are used to in the rainforest here!  They're fun to photograph because they also seem to like to pose prettily and close-by.

Also on the move are the Rose Robins.  We haven't seen them for a while, but were lucky to spot two at Sundown NP.  According to eBird, their 'detectability' increases in the wintertime.  They prefer the rainforest in the summer months where they are hard to see, but then move into more open forest like in Sundown in the wintertime.  This photo was taken elsewhere as these guys are quick and it's hard to get a good picture!

Mistletoebird

Ok, well not a robin but the flashing red of the Mistletoebird initially *looks* that way. These guys are t-i-n-y and hang out in dense clumps of mistletoe and eat the berries. Easy enough to identify by call, but hard to locate and photograph because they're quite zippy, too.