Here, have some New Holland Honeyeaters...

[khiemtran]

I saw them at dusk after work on Friday. It's quite common to see them in the scrub along the coast, but it's very rare to see them in a group like this. There were only there for a few seconds before they saw me and headed for cover.



Earlier that day, I also saw a big pelican fly past while I was on my lunch break.



Meanwhile, this morning we saw a black-faced cuckoo shrike.



Lots of humpbacks doing their morning yoga...



And a black-browed albatross off the cliffs of Cape Solander.



Not hard to see where it gets its name from...



Here it is taking off again. If only the shot was just a little sharper...

Comments

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

A salute to honeyeaters and cuckoo shrikes in particular.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

That was actually the first time we've ever seen a cuckoo shrike. We were sitting in the car, waiting for more whales to come by, when we saw it doing some aerobatics in front of our windscreen.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Fantastic!

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Those honeyeaters are spectacular! Completely unlike any bird I've ever seen here. Not that we get many pelicans either!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

They look a bit like prison escapees when you see them from the front, don't they? (Which is very rare, because if you see them from the front, it usually means they've also seen you, and they don't stick around for long...)

[soon_lee]

That first image looks like a painting.

(This is a compliment)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It does! I like the way the rest of the picture is almost monochrome, apart from the yellow on their wings.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

What beautiful birds those honeyeaters are. I love the touch of yellow that lets you know the photo is in color!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was a stroke of luck. It's quite common to see them in the scrub, but very rare to see so many of them sitting exposed like that.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The yoga of the whales--what a great concept.

The pelican at that angle looks like he's molded out of fiberglass.

And the honeyeaters and cuckoo shrike are beautiful.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Pelicans really are quite astonishing looking birds. They look almost like cartoons of themselves. I guess it's all part of their act and they're actually quite ruthless killers...