I usually have a lot of trouble trying to photograph the smaller birds that visit my garden. Of course when you have a large dog who has to be with you all the time that does not help. This morning though I had a big surprise. I got out of bed and headed to the back door to let Cindy out. There,  about a foot away from the door was this little guy sitting absolutely still. Well of course that meant I could not let Cindy out so I went to the toilet and when I  returned it was still there so I grabbed the camera. This bird sat still for so long I started to worry that something was wrong with it I didn’t want to open the door because of Cindy so I took my photos through the glass.

I often see these little birds in my garden and I thought that they were a species of finch but when I looked it up using my photos for reference I learned that it is a Yellow Throated Honeyeater, a fairly common native Tasmanian bird. Eventually after five minutes or more had passed I tapped on the glass and the bird seemed to come out of its trance and flew away. I wonder what it was so interested in? Was it admiring its own reflection in the glass? Had it come to thank me for planting bottlebrush and other bird attracting plants in the garden or perhaps to ask for some more dog hair? These birds are known for using animal hair in the nest-building process and when I brush Cindy outside I get a lot of loose hairs. She has probably supplied half the nests in Geeveston. Or perhaps the birds were having a human counting census like the bird counting census that is happening this week for National Bird Week.

I only had my standard 18-55 mm zoom lens on the camera but the photos came out quite well and I cropped them a bit afterwards.

Bird Links

http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Lichenostomus-flavicollis

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