Marg and I had a great surprise last week in discovering a
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill (
Acanthiza uropygialis) in amongst our resident flock of Yellow-rumped, Buff-rumped, Yellow, Brown and Striated Thornbills. The surprise was that it is way out of its normal range.
After a couple of days of sightings, I finally coaxed him into photo range via the old (but a bit frowned-upon) technique of playing a recording of their song, whereupon he popped up onto a post only a few metres away.
The resulting photos removed all doubt so we logged the sighting on
Eremaea Birdlines where it generated a bit of discussion.
Another recent visitor here was a pair of
Restless Flycatcher (
Myiagra inquieta) which we discovered after hearing a curious buzzing, "grinding" song in the scrub down the cliffs. Their acrobatics in trying to catch insects and moths shows why they deserve the moniker of "restless".
The local
White-bellied Sea-Eagles (
Haliaeetus leucogaster) have been around but they don't use any roosting tree that you can get close to. However, a pair that reside along the river at Lower Newry are often perched right by the road where one can get up close. Magnificent!
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