Varied Sittella – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER

Mentioned a trip a few weeks ago to the You Yangs.
One of the highlights of the morning was an encounter with a family group of Varied Sittella.

These charming little birds are not always so easy to find, and because of their hyper-active approach to feeding, are always on the move. It might be I guess that they have to search through all the bits of loose bark on a branch looking for a tid-bit, and with so many birds all at work at the same time, its really the quickest down the branches. Sittellas have an unique approach to feeding, starting at the top of the tree and then working their way down. Treecreepers on the other hand, usually start lower down and work upwards.

What was interesting is that this family had several young, recently fledged with the party. The young ones preferred to sit together and preen, while the adults did all the work.
They moved so quickly that we lost them for a short time, and while we went right, they apparently had gone left.
Big Rock is just what it says, a very big rock. There is a track around the base, and its about 20 minute stroll. The birds were working primarily in Black wattle that grows up along the base of rock. When the rains come, good water flows from the rock, but at other times, the area is particularly dry so much of the wattle never grows to maturity. Which suits the insects that the Sittellas feed. So it works all round.

Enjoy.

Every nook and cranny gets a good going over

No doubt a favourite game. Looping a branch

Some of the young ones that were happy to sit together and preen

Its always impressive to see the underwing colours on these birds

Hard to see the rich colours on the wings while they are folded, but impressive in flight

One of the first times EE and I have been out just looking about.
We had been hoping to find some Eastern Yellow Robins, and or some evidences of the Scarlet Robins at the You Yangs, and EE also wanted to visit her water feature near the Big Rock carpark.

In the end, the big surprise was a family of Sittella, and their young recently fledged clan. I’m going to do a separate blog on that encounter.

In the meantime in spite of all the disaster that is around, and the challenges of the rest of summer ahead of us, it was good to see the birds had new life on the way.