Tag: Scarlet Robin

Sunday at Woodlands

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Dorothy and I looked out of the window early in the morning, and decided it was just too nice a morning to sit at home and worry about getting ‘stuff’ done.
So we packed a picnic and took off to see what the Robins were up to.  And they certainly were.  We found the cemetery pair within a few minutes. The female must be the hardest working bird in the forest. She had at least 4 clutches this summer, and I counted 9 young that she had gotten off.  Given that she lost at least one nest to Ravens, she really didn’t have a moment to spare.  But she looks quite relaxed and in good nick at the moment.  Her male, is sporting a cute little white feather or two around his beak, giving him a little moustache appearance.

We settled into a favourite spot in the fenced off area and while we waited Andrew and Adrienne  turned up, so  we had a lovely morning with the birds and some great company. The weather couldn’t make up its mind but sunshine probably dominated. The birds are not in a flock yet, each little family group seems to be moving independently.  The three males, “The Brothers” are still together, and it was good to be able to find one, and then quickly find the other two in quick succession.  Mr Cooper-top is sporting his lovely brown feathers.

The Brown-headed Honeyeater trapeze troupe dropped by, and we also were entertained by the four Grey-shrike Thrush as they worked the trees, bushes and ground litter.

By the time we had arrived home it was too cold to work in the garden so we compared pictures from the day’s effort.  Dorothy is about to get a new Nikon 1 V1, the super little mirrorless camera, which just happens to have an adaptor that can attach the DSLR lenses, and that will give her some new opportunities.

The hardest working little bird. She has had a very productive summer, and now is piling on the food, ready for next season.
This boy and his rather shy female put in an appearance, he is now one of three males in the area. They are a bit of a bully to the Red-caps I think.
Mr Copper-top. One of three males that travel together, “The Brothers”.
Another of “The Brothers”. He is nicely positioned against the spider’s web.

A hunting we will go

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Friday dawned all lovely and still, with plenty of blue sky and none of the rain of the previous few days.  I was getting a bit tired of pacing the floor and finding other things to do, so it was good to get back into the bush and see if the storms had diminished the robins activities. I needed not have worried, as they were soaking up the sunshine and on the hunt everywhere.

The Brown-headed Honeyeater aerial trapeze team came by for a visit and I’ve put up a page here with their antics on display.

This young lady spent a lot of the morning with serveral other females hunting on their own. They seem to have a different call, a Cheep, Chip, Chip, which must be a location thing. This one seemed to be the noisiest or most persistent caller. Perhaps it was “C’mon girls, let’s go over here.”
Another one from the hunting party

Wonders of a little rain

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After a couple of days of what can only be described as ‘typical’ Melbourne weather, the clouds eased off a bit, and the biting chill was gone from the wind.  So we both ventured out to see what the rain had done in the park.

We quickly found a number of Thornbills and Pardalottes who were enjoying hunting in the sunshine.
Also found a few robins Scarlet is still there and his Red-capped consort has taken on a particularly brilliant orange/rust coloured cap.

A small group of Dusky Woodswallows were enthralled with a small lump on a tree high up and spent a lot of time squabbling and mobbing one another, for what we suspect was a pool of water built up in the node on the tree.

And a lovely Redcapped Robin male danced by and posed against a freshly built spider-web.  Pity the light was just overcast at the time as the web would have glistened in the sunlight.

Red-capped Robin male and a spider web contrast.
Dusky Woodswallow flock taking a drink from a small pool of water high up in a tree.

Scarlet Robin female

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The weather man kept me out of the bush this morning, predictions of rain, and overcast don’t exactly excite me to take expensive photo equipment to the bush.  But as the morning progressed into increasing sunshine, my decision was beginning to look like a bit hasty to say the least.
Still I had the rounds of shopping to do, and if I worked on a scheme, I could get the shopping done, have a coffee, and still make it Woodlands in the afternoon sunshine. Say no more grab the shopping list, and load a camera and head on out.

As it turns out the forest was a little quiet, and after a fruitless search I was on the way back to the car, when I spotted some movement among the trees. The early morning mist/rain, had left a small pool of water which was just the ticket for the small birds and about 10 assorted robins, and some wagtails, a bunch of very aggressive Grey Fantails, were taking it in turn to give the feathers a bit of a going over.

One that stood out was a Scarlet Robin female.  It is the first really good sighting I’ve had so far.

So maybe the weather man did me a favour after all.

One of three female Scarlet Robins that are in the park area at the moment. Not sure yet of attachments to males, but each female seems pretty independent.

Flame, Scarlet, Red-capped Robins on a sunny day

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After a week of fairly average weather, it was nice to see the sun beaming through this morning. That was enough to put all other jobs on hold, load the car and head for Woodlands.

The forest had a lovely smell after the rain, and it was looking quite crisp.

To add to the enjoyment within about 5 minutes, we had our first Flame Robin Male, and followed it up very fast with another male, a female, and some juveniles. They didn’t seem in any particular hurry and cruised around an open area feeding as they went.  Then the local Scarlet Robin popped by, and he is still with his red-capped escort, although she spent a lot of time preening while he flew about in ever broadening circles.  Henny and Penny two redcaps in the area popped by for a visit, and Penny does look the part in her new winter dress and a distinct orange/red cap.

The pair from down near the three-way junction also put in an appearance, but a lot further away, too far to pursue.   Time just seemed to stand still as the birds hunted and chased around the stump area we propped on.  Then off course it was back to the real world, so we went by the powerline area near the dam and found another pair of co-operative Red-capped Robins.   All in all over four hours had gone by, we had collected our share of vitamin D for the day, a nice collection of images and a collection of good spots to check in the future.

Flame Robin male. He has an interesting red feather just under his chin that breaks the sharp black line on his mask.

 

The local male. He was as busy and as vocal as usual. His consort spent most of the hour or so in a nearby tree tic'ing at him and ignoring his circle flights.
A juvenile (perhaps). There are several similar birds already in the park.

 

This Grey Shrike-thrush came to find a space to pulverise its insect prey and to enjoy the meal.

Welcome Return. Flame Robins and Scarlet Robins in the forest

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Andrew and I had planned a morning out to scout about a bit. See Andrew’s Blog here.
The weather stayed kind, but for the first half hour or so, not a wingfeather was seen. We walked down along the ridge in the Backpaddock and again it was all very quiet, until we found a Red-capped Robin and then his lady, and probably a couple of juveniles.  He has moulted out, and seemed quite pleased with himself and took the time to hum his little “deritt” song.

The girls had stopped down by the three road crossway, and were having their own great morning with a pair of redcaps, a Flame Robin female, and a couple of Flame Robin juveniles.  Isn’t that always the way.
Andrew and I got back to find all the activity happening right where we had turned off the track.

The female Flame Robin looked in great shape. Very plump and sleek. So she hadn’t travelled far to get there. No pictures as I was driving the binoculars at the time and the camera wasn’t in reach. Don’t you just get that.

We walked, quite pleased with our collective selves, to the dam, and on the way a familiar red flash dashed across the track. Scarlet Robin.  But then another wing flash, and it was not the Scarlet Robin’s Red-capped consort, but a real live female Scarlet Robin.  Then a second one.  Most interesting and rewarding. All were quiet, as they usually are.  So I am not sure if they are all new arrivals, or two females only.  The male and one female played lots of high speed pursuits about the trees.

On to the dam and a number of Grey-shrike Thrushes were bathing and then they too joined in tree chase games.  And to make a great morning even better, Dorothy spotted a yellow flash in the tree, all excited we were, but it wasn’t a Robin, but one of two Eastern Shrike-tits, doing what they do best; eating grubs.

While we were congratulating ourselves on our good fortune, Rodger, he of the red-spot camera site fame turned up, and added to our morning’s wander.

The next few days should prove to be very interesting.

We all got back to the car in time for lunch, so a good end to what started out quietly.

Female Scarlet Robin. The first female Scarlet I’ve clocked for 2012.
Eastern Shrike-tit hard at work on a lovely lunch time snack.

Scarlet Robin still in residence

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Scarlet Robin at Woodlands, moulting into a dapper bird.
Scarlet Robin at Woodlands, moulting into a dapper bird.

 

First time back at Woodlands since the long Goschen trip.

Within a few minutes I had heard a familiar chirrup of the Scarlet Robin and went to investigate.  I saw it in the distance, and it continued to come closer landing in a tree across the track from where I was.  It is a male for sure. Has a lovely black head, really strong red colour, and that wonderful white spot above its beak.
It has grown quite bold as the week has gone by, and now patrols quite an extensive territory inside the Back Paddock fenced of area.
It does not seem to have a mate, but it is still in attendance with a female Recapped Robin. It is also moulting through and looks a bit of a sight at the moment. They sit together, hunt together and move about together, although it has to be said that the poor little redcaps wings whir quite  bit trying to keep up with the speedy Scarlet.  But they ‘tick’ call at one another.

Also saw today; three black swamp wallabies, so they have managed to get inside the fence in the new area. They seemed very relaxed. So that is good.

Male Scarlet Robin taking time for a good scratch

 

 

Now what have we here, Male or female Scarlet Robin

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I have been spending some time in the morning looking for the Scarlet Robin.  I am pretty convinced that the calls are from at least two birds.  But.  I haven’t been able to find both birds to confirm.

This bird seemed not to fussed this morning, and with a bit of sunlight to help things along I managed a few reasonable shots.  But look at those black feathers, I am going to suggest it is a Male moulting through.  A few more days and we will have a very dapper looking fellow I think.  Now all I need to do is confirm that the female is there and it will be an interesting summer.

Scarlet Robin in moult. The really dark black feathers are making it most possible this is a male bird.

Update: Redcapped Robin young

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Went back to check on the Scarlet Robin, and was pleasantly surprised to hear her early morning call in the forest.  Despite a lot of looking, I was not able to locate her, as she was moving about in among the denser grey box undergrowth.

I continued on to an area I have reported on ealier, where a Redcapped Robin male went to a lot of trouble to convince me there were not nests up in that area.  See here

After locating a small flock of Yellow-rumped Thornbills, I was settling to to photograph them when off to my left a Redcapped Robin male, turned up.  And in a few moments a very young juvenile.  All lovely striated waiting to be fed.

It didn’t take the male to long to fulfil that request, and then the young bird was left in a dead, fallen wattle, and the male disappeared.  The young one amused itself taking food off the ground and generally exploring the branches.  After about 10 minutes the male returned and offered up a nice looking orange coloured bug.  Then they both flew over my head, and away.  I scouted round for a few minutes and then found a second juvenile, this one seemed to be a bit more advanced.  The male turned up, shared some food, and then gave a call and the two juveniles followed him across a clearing.  And so did I.  There was another old wattle there and again he left them and disappeared,  coming back occasionally with food.

He seemed to have a scheme on feeding as the first young on the scene did not get the goodies, but he seemed quite particular about which one should be fed.

Then with another call they followed him to the next tree, and a third young one joined them!  So they have had a very successful time. Now he was as busy as a one-armed paper-hanger as he tried to keep them together, find food and move them about the clearing.  No sign of the female.  Perhaps she was off shopping?  Or perhaps she has taken the challenge of another clutch.  Time will tell.

There are a few more photos from the event here.

A lovely little redcapped robin, one of a family of three

Scarlet Robin female

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I have been looking for redcapped robins at Woodlands Park for the last few weeks, there is still a little activity, but they are quite furtive at the moment.

On a very overcast Friday, heard a familiar redcap “tic” and went to look.  To my surprise I found not only a female Redcap, but a Female Scarlet Robin, in moult. Her distinctive call took me a few minutes to figure out, as I would not expect them for another 6-8 weeks at the earliest.  So It was great to see this one bird.  It stayed close to the recapped robin and they ‘tic-ed’ at one another to stay in contract.

What I am unsure of course, is it a visitor, or did it stay over in the park for summer, (I haven’t heard it previously), or is it a juvenile that is on the move to a territory.  Things I guess I’ll never know.

The only pair that wintered over did have a juvenile with them initially in May last year, but I only saw it for a few weeks.

A subsequent trip out on Sunday, confirms it is still there, and as vocal as ever, so that is a good sign.

ImageImage

Scarlet Robin

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This  year has been a quiet year at Woodlands for Scarlet Robins. Only one pair showed up that I could find and then most of the time were quite furtive.
This male I found late in the afternoon as he was feeding in the sunshine.  He managed to strike a pose for me on an old stump.

Male Scarlet Robin
Male Scarlet Robin near cemetry