After about a week of really sunny pleasant weather to celebrate our release from restrictions, we were planning a Little Visit to Eynesbury Grey Box Forest.
And
As it turned out, so the weather turned. So I pulled on my best grey jacket, and we set out under a grey, ashen, sky hoping that the sun might break through a little.
But
When we arrived at the forest, the weather had ‘lowered’ even further, and any chance of well lit photos had disappeared. However we wanted to look to see if the Flame Robins were in good numbers and set off like adventurers along one of the maintained tracks.
It has been said, either kindly or unkindly, that I have Grey Box sap flowing in my veins. There is something very soothing to me about stepping off the track and merging into the forest. The grey might seem bland to some, but there are so many tones, so many rich shapes and such beautiful trees and that I find it a visually exciting environment.
One of the masters of the forest area at Eynesbury is Jacky Winter.
I find myself enamoured with these delightful little birds that seem both so well adapted and so well suited to the Grey Box area. They don’t come in a wide range of flashy colours, they are somewhat small and inconspicuous, but they always to make the forest dance and sing when we come across them. Perhaps its their ‘tail wag’ with the leadining white edges of the tail flashing their presence.
We were fortunate enough to locate five pairs during the morning.
Perhaps the most interesting were a pair that had located quite a large grub and it took both of them to subdue it. Once they had eaten it they were off to a tree for a rest for the awhile.
Enjoy
Lovely images of the Jackies, David. And great to see the Spiny Cheeked too! The weather sure has changed – the drive to Waurn Ponds at 2 this morning wasn’t much fun.
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We knew it was going to be average weather, just it didn’t get better the whole morning.
Sure did make a mess at Waurn Ponds. Blame it on Covid I reckon. 🙂
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Top images Dave. I love the Jacky Winters. I saw a couple at Eynesbury last Saturday with the Birdlife Australia Photography group, but couldn’t get close for a reasonable shot.
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Hi Rodger, they are tricky little customers. They need a bit of time to accept the intrusion, and generally will settle down. We were a bit lucky in some respects as they like hunting over open areas and now that there is good grass out there, the tracks proved very useful.
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A beautiful collection. Nothing like being in lockdown for a while to make us really appreciate our freedom to go and watch birds again!
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Thanks Eleanor, the area was a treat all dressed in green as the grasses have benifited from the recent rains. Harder work out there for photographers as most of the birds are quiet and settled down for winter. But its a great place to walk as it is open and quite flat.
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An enjoyable post David, as grey as the day turned out, Jackie made the day. Do lovely that you get to see this bird, we don’t see him here, but we have enjoyed when you feature him, as he is one of your favorites. We don’t see much of the Brown Treecreeper either, but at this time of year see lots of the White-throated cousin. All beautiful captures, and love the shades of grey, something we are both accustomed to 🙂
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Hello Ashley, thanks for dropping by. Jacky used to be called “The Lesser Fascinating Bird”, back in the 1920s. Its Robin like habits of dropping and pouncing and its Fantail habits of flicking the tail make it an interesting bird to watch at work.
The Brown Treecreeper are permanent residents in Eynesbury, and while the numbers appear on decline elsewhere, they usually have very successful nestings in the Grey Box forest.
Now we settle in to the grey days as part of the winter process.
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These images are such a treat to watch. As much as I love the little flames of the wintery robins, you show how classy the grey Jacky can be (with or without a grub ;-).
The sharp claws of the Brown Treecreper look awesome too and my special thank-you for the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater. I’ve got two very blurry shots of “a bird” I made in Coolart last week that I’ve tried to identify because of its call and somehow couldn’t do it, despite going through all honeyeaters images in my two trusted guides. Now I’ve seen the light…
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