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#VariegatedFairywren #birdphotography #birds

A photograph of a Variegated Fairy-wren with its head between its legs looking rearward.

Rewarding visit to the local nature reserve this morning. I've been wanting to get a decent photo of the Variegated Fairy-wren for a while now.

#birds #birdingphotography #variegatedfairywren #birdingdaily #australia #birdsonearth #birdingaustralia

It cooled down enough outside to go for a short walk down the driveway in search of birds.

I came across two Eastern Yellow Robins, a male Variegated Fairy Wren, and several always moving Brown Thornbills.

#Bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz #EasternYellowRobin #VariegatedFairywren #BrownThornbill

An Eastern Yellow Robin on a branch. Its back is mostly facing us on a 45º oblique angle, head to the right. There are various out of focus soft colours behind (pinky-brown, grey, yellowy-green, green).

A brightly coloured male Variegated Fairy Wren on the ground. Its beak is partially open, singing.
It has a black throat, Bright blue head, black neck, blue, brown and rufous patches on the wings, black bum, white belly and blue-tinged brown tail.

Two Eastern Yellow Robins perched on a branch next to each other. They have bright yellow chests and bellies, and grey head and back and upper wings.

It should be noted, this is a composite of two shots, one where I focussed on the bird in front, and one where I focussed on the bird behind, taken about 3/10ths of a second apart.

A tiny Brown Hornbill, shot from below as it was almost directly above me. A brown-grey colour, with a rufous-brown cap. Small pointy beak and beady black eyes.

A variegated fairywren I saw out on my walk at Samford Eco Corridor today.
#birdsofmastodon #birds #VariegatedFairywren #fairywren

An up close, thumb sized bird pitched on a thin branch. A blue head, black throat and red on the top of its wings. The rest of its body is white and light tan. It has a long tail in relation to its body size. Looking to the left. I super cute little guy

An up close, thumb sized bird pitched in pine tree branch. A blue head, black throat and red on the top of its wings. The rest of its body is white and light tan. It has a long tail in relation to its body size.

Some of the other birds spotted on Saturday, included an #EasternYellowRobin , male and female #VariegatedFairywren 's, a #LewinsHoneyeater and a #YellowFacedHoneyeater

(in face, a lot of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters).

#AustralianWildlife #WildOz #Bird

An Eastern Yellow Robin, facing away from the camera, showing its grey and olive back, wings, tail and head, with just a hint of the bright yellow underneath.

Male (left) and female (right), Variegated Fairywrens on the ground. The male has a bright blue head, russet red back and long tail sticking up in the air. The female is mostly brown.

Maybe one of the most common honeyeaters in SE Qld, the Lewin's Honeyeater. A mostly olive bird, with dark head, and a yellow crescent behind the eye, and a yellow gape (small section at the base of the beak).

A Yellow-faced Honeyeater, stretches out to grab some Grandfather Moss lichen.
The bird is mostly brown, but with a bright yellow patch under the eye to the beak, surrounded by a black section around it, making the yellow stand out more.

I heard some high pitched chittering outside, so went to have a look and came across three Variegated Fairywrens. One female, and two males (one in full breeding colours, and another still transitioning).

#bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz #VariegatedFairywren

Female Variegated Fairywren, singing from within the tangled vines at the bottom of our cocos palm.

"Eclipse" form of the male Variegated Fairywren. It is in the process of changing to the full breeding plumage.

Female Variegated Fairywren being followed by a male in full breeding plumage. She is mostly brown with a red beak and bandit mask, and faintly blue tail, he is vividly blue on the head, with black cheeks and neck band, red shoulders and blue/brown/black wings.

A White-browed Scrubwren looking for snacks in some dead leaves. This shot is uncropped as it was that close.

And a bonus #BirdButtsOfBrisbane edition of the male Variegated Fairywren. Its bright blue head really stands out against the leaf litter and twigs.

#bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz #WhiteBrowedScrubwren #VariegatedFairywren

A male Variegated Fairywren, presenting its butt, but looking right so you can see his bright blue head.

White-browed Scrubwren on a thick branch, investigating some dried up leaves in the hope of finding a snack.

While at least one of the male Variegated Fairywrens has come in to its full colours, this one has not yet got there. You can just see some of the blue coming in to the head, but it'll be a week or two before this one is in breeding plumage.

#VariegatedFairywren #bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz

A male Variegated Fairywren in some lantana. He has his body facing away from the camera, blue tail up, but his head is turned to the right and he is mid-call, beak slightly open. here is blue appearing around his eye, a sign that he's starting to change in to his breeding colours.

In this early spring weather we're having at the moment, the Variegated Fairywrens and Brown Thornbills are becoming quite a regular occurrence around my yard.

Shown here, we have both the female and male #VariegatedFairywren and a #BrownThornbill up close (so close I had to take a step back to get it in focus).

#bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz

Female Variegated Fairywren on a diagonal branch. She is mostly grey-brown but with a russet/red beak and mask, and a long blue tail, sticking up vertically in this photo.

The male Variegated Fairywren on a branch. He has a black beak, chin, throat and chest, brilliant light blue head, brown under, russet/red patch on the flanks of the neck and a blue tail, also sticking vertically up.

The tiny (not much bigger than a grown human's thumb) Brown Thornbill on a very small branch. It is mostly brown/faun, lighter and striated underneath. It has a red iris, black thorn-like beak, and a patch of russet on the forehead.

Also on the driveway were a pair of Variegated Fairywrens, the female of which had caught a moth for lunch.

Later, in the backyard, there was a curious White-browed Scrubwren, and a tiny Brown Thornbill.

#Bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz #BrownThornbill #VariegatedFairywren #WhiteBrowedFinch

A tiny Brown Thornbill in the vines and lantana below our Cocos Palm. It is looking up and to the right.

A female Variegated Fairywren, with a tiny white moth in its beak.
The wren itself is brown with a long blue upright tail and the hint of a russet mask.

A curious White-browed Scrubwren pokes its head up amongst the ferns and lantana to see what the photographer is up to.
A small brown bird with a black face, distinctive white brow, and white chin, black and white wing highlights and a buff belly.

The vibrantly coloured male Variegated Fairywren stands on a tree branch surveying the world at large.
He has a deep black throat, very bright blue face, black eyes, darker blue upright tail, black neck, with a red patch just below that, and brown wings.

Birds I saw when I wandered down the driveway* to collect the mail today.

The Variegated Fairywrens were out and flitting about happily and are pretty much in full breeding colours now.

And the Rose Robins are back! Ok, one of them anyway, but there are probably more.

#bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz #VariegatedFairywren #RoseRobin

* the driveway is about 120m long

Female (left) and Male (right) Variegated Fairywrens on a branch.

The female has a blue tail but is otherwise light brown, with just a hint of russet in front of the eye.

The male, is quite showy. Same blue tail, but a brilliant shiny blue hace, black throat and chest, and russet/red on the back of the neck.

A Rose Robin, far up in a tree. Predominantly brown bird, with a lovely pinky rose coloured chest.

A close shot of a female Variegated Fairywren. Her russet mask and beak are very easy to see here. She is standing on the ground with large grass leaves around her.

Female Variegated Fairywren on a branch (this is a different one, as evidenced by the less prominent mask (barely there) and black beak)

I popped outside at lunchtime to see what was about. Plenty of chirping to be heard, not many visible birds, but these two Variegated Fairywrens turned up briefly.

The female (the duller of the two), was licking sap from vines under the Cocos Palm, whereas the male, not yet fully in breeding colours, was flitting about, generally showing off.

#bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz #VariegatedFairywren

Female Variegated Fairywren, on a vine that is slick with sweet sap from the Cocos Palm above. She is bent over leaning forward, having just lifted her head from licking the sap.

Male Variegated Fairywren with almost complete breeding colours, including the bright blue eye and cheek feathers, and reddy patch on the side of the neck. It's blue tail is aloft and fanned.

The Variegated Fairywrens are just starting to change colour. Here are photos of one rather damp female, and three of the males. When the males have changed to their breeding colours they will have bright blue heads, a patch of russet red on the neck and blue tails.

#Bird #WildOz #AustralianWildlife #VariegatedFairywren

A wet, female Variegated Fairywren on some lantana.

She has a red mask and beak, and blue tail, but is otherwise browny grey.

A male Variegated Fairywren in the undergrowth. He is starting to show some blue and black plumage, and already has a decently blue tail.

A side view of one of the male Variegated Fairywrens. There is a hint of the reddish neck feathers starting to come through, but not much.
His long blue tail is pointing upwards at about 45º.

Another of the male Variegated Fairywrens. This one is showing more blue and reddish hues but is still a way to go before in full breeding colours.

A young male Variegated Fairywren (mid-colour change) and an adult White-browed Scrubwren, I saw outside from the veranda this morning.

#bird #photo #nature #AustralianWildlife #VariegatedFairywren #WhiteBrowedScrubwren

Couldn’t resist a quick edit to remove some spurious sticks from this shot.
#bird #VariegatedFairywren #edit

a female variegated fairywren perched on a stick with green bokeh background

Variegated Fairywrens in the garden this morning. I went out to chase down the Eastern Whipbirds, but they were too wily, so fairywrens it is.

Also, who knew fairywrens had whiskers? (see the tight crop facing the camera).

#bird #AustralianWildlife #VariegatedFairywren #photo #nature

This wee female Variegated Fairywren seemed to have something wrong with her right leg. Of the 30 odd shots I took of her, on different branches, she's always only standing on her left leg.

#bird #photo #nature #AustralianWildlife #VariegatedFairywren