Portraits of the white-cheeked honeyeater (Sept 2020)

One fine day in September I had the pleasure of another wander along Hind Trail in the Broadwater National Park. While there are a couple of other birds included in this post (identified by caption in applicable photos), it is essentially a record of several splendid encounters with various white-cheeked honeyeaters - truely gorgeous, enhanced in this wonderful, pristine coatal heathland environment at my doorstep 👀.

A feature of these portraits for me are the various settings offered. This beautiful sunny day afforded me the opportunity to see them in the open and perched in what often look like precarious positions, but to which they cling with acrobatic poise and carefully (and quickly) take in their surroundings. Fortunately for me, this day they perched in the open and clung in poses allowing some gorgeous perspectives to share with you, sometimes realtively close to the trail - ENJOY!

First up though, in a brackish paddock pond on the drive getting there, I caught sight of several straw-necked ibis grazing. I wanted to include one photo to offer a glimpse of the magnificent iridescent plumage sitting behind the "straw-neck" - straw in both colour and texture (to the naked eye at least). Very striking in a good light.

Straw-necked ibis

Next, near the beginning of the track, is a little wattlebird doing its best to shelter and hide among the branches and seed pods of a banksia. The varied textures and subtle tones provide a very "bush" environment for this photo.

Little wattlebird

And now, as promised, for you to savour is the gorgeous white-cheeked honeyeater. Shown in this series of "portraits" here in all the glory of a magnifcent clear spring afternoon in fantastic varied settings of the national park vegetation. The last photo even catering to your imagination as it is in the midst of calling (or if you prefer, the Birds in Backyards site - scroll down under the distribution map to access the 17s recording - allows you to listen and focus your imagination on standing on the track and "seeing" the photos).