Crescent Honeyeater

[KathieThomas]

Medium to small honeyeater, found in the south-eastern region of Australia. This one was in my garden late last year. I'd not noticed these birds before but have seen several since.

141891

Nikon D7100, 300mm, ISO 800, 1/1000 f5.6 I'm always looking for opportunities to add to my photo collection of different birds and have been learning to recognise their calls also. Thank you for your comments.

[Grace Scalzo]

Hello Kathie! What a nice bird you have photographed. I like that he (or she) is looking back over his shoulder at you. I do miss the tail which is cut off and the image looks to be lacking in critical sharpness. Do you have any more from this session?

[John Robinson]

Hi Kathie Yes I would agree with Grace . Pity about the birds tail.
Get at itagain ! looks a great litle fella.
Cheers
John

[Joe Galkowski]

He is a cute little guy. Thanks for sharing it. It is great to see a bird I have never seen before.

[William Dickson]

Well captured Kathie :S3:

[KathieThomas]

I do have other shots but none as close as this one, I'm afraid. It's one of those cases when you suddenly discover a bird you haven't seen and you try hard to get as close as possible to get shots before it takes off. I'm still getting lots of practice :S3: Haven't seen one as this close since then, which is a shame. They're usually high up in amongst branches of trees.

[Ian Wilson]

I do have other shots but none as close as this one, I'm afraid. It's one of those cases when you suddenly discover a bird you haven't seen and you try hard to get as close as possible to get shots before it takes off. I'm still getting lots of practice :S3: Haven't seen one as this close since then, which is a shame. They're usually high up in amongst branches of trees.

Hi Kathie, It's a good bird to get and especially interesting as it is a juvenile with the yellow gape not present in adults. They come down from the high country in winter so you should be starting to hear them call. We had our first one for the season in our garden two weeks ago. Next time we cross paths, I would be happy to talk with you about this image. Kind regards, Ian.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice head turn. I miss the tail.

[KathieThomas]

Thanks Ian. I haven't heard them yet but I'm sure I will soon. Heard them a lot last year but hadn't noticed them before that. Yes, see you at the lake sometime!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

AS mentioned this lacks sharpness, but hopefully you'll get a better opportunity to take a cracking shot soon. Ian beat me to mentioning juvenile - the bright gapes often indicate young birds in many Aussie species. Their call apparently sounds like "eee-gypt", which once I have heard for myself kind of fits well. Although often I wonder what drugs the people take when they describe calls in books, as many descriptions don't fit the call at all. Eg. White-throated Gerygone (they reckon "falling leaf song" ???), Noisy Pitta ("walk to work"???).

You really should buy a set of bird calls relevant to your area and learn them. You'll be surprised how quickly you can master the different species, provided you are willing to put a bit of effort into listening to the calls many times.