Striated Pardalote

STRIATED PARDALOTE Pardalotus striatus

There was a large number of pardalotes at the bridge over Nanny Creek on Friday.



They were very active, flying, calling, hunting and feeding.










 Many were in pairs, male and female, flying and perching on branches together



 

There are numerous fairy martun nests under the bridge. I have observed these nests for several years, beautifully made from hundreds of spots of mud, pushed together to make intricate, interconnected nesting places.


 





These nests are used by both the fairy martins and the pardalotes. The pardalotes seem very happy to live in the mud, martin made nest hollows which they fill with and grass, little sticks and small pieces of bark. Not very different to a hole in a creek bank I suppose.

Both male and female would settle on a branch, next to each other , each with a grub, a moth, a caterpillar or an ant in its beak.






 

They would then approach the nest, one entering whilst the other waited outside, hanging from the mud structure. The first would emerge and the second would enter.











Then both would fly off together, returning several minutes later to repeat the process.

Brown-headed Honeyeater

BROWN-HEADED HONEYEATER  Melithreptus brevirostris

 

On the road between Kilmore and Sugarloaf Creek; the beautifully named Nanny's Creek Road; the road widens to leave a small treed area where the concrete bridge crosses the creek.

The bridge spans the small and often dry, Nanny Creek. I have no idea who Nanny was. Our old books give me  no information. An early mid-wife perhaps!

 

This area is populated by large numbers of fairy martins, pardalotes. and numbers of various honeyeaters.

It is a good spot to visit, there is always something to see.

Last  Friday I noticed a number of small birds I had not seen or noticed, before. 

 

Bigger than the resident pardalotes, these brown headed birds had an olive sheen to their backs. Each had a brown head and cheek, with a white stripe behind the eye. The eye patch was a creamy yellow colour on the adult birds. What I took to be the younger birds had a paler, bluish eye patch. 

 The books tell me, Brown-headed honeyeaters are reasonably common bird to this area, but it was a new sighting for me.

White-browed Scrub Wren

WHITE-BROWED SCRUBWREN Sericornis frontalis

 

 

 

It is always interesting to come across a bird I haven't seen before. I should rephrase that to 'a bird I haven't noticed before.'

 

 

 

These little wrens were feeding, late in the evening of a hot day, amongst grass and low scrub on the edge of the Kilmore Hospital Reservoir,

 

 

 

Little brown birds are easily missed, but this group of about eight individuals, being so busy in the deep shadows and showing no timidity, very obvious.