New Holland honeyeaters

The car park at work is a surprisingly good place to watch birds, especially now that the students aren't around to disturb them. The eucalypts that border it are good for honeyeaters and musk lorikeets, magpies and the occasional eastern rosella. Masked lapwings and crested pigeons patrol the lawns on either side. But I hadn't really paid much attention to the low thickets of correas between the parking bays. They flower most of the year but are absolutely stunning right now. They're also irresistible to New Holland honeyeaters.



New Holland honeyeaters are common in the temperate SE (including Tasmania) and SW. Although generally unperturbed by human activity (take heed, cormorants), they aren't all that fond of posing. Once I got out the camera, an otherwise brazen trio turned into the terrestrial equivalent of grebes. The correas shook and shuddered as the birds made their way through the vegetation, feeding on the nectar. I pointed and clicked and got lots of pictures of where the honeyeaters had been half a second before. Then one few into a tree and started preening. I guess there was a lot of pollen to dust off.





Trevor of Trevor's Birding has photos of a party of New Holland honeyeaters frolicking in a bird bath. Duncan at Ben Cruachan blog has a portrait of a lone bird looking a little more dignified. The New Holland honeyeater featured on Birds in Tasmania shows the characteristic colour pattern perfectly.