Less Common birds at the Feeder Table

I have shown you so many Bowerbirds at the Feeder Table recently that I hesitate to show any more. However, I will, for good reason, I hope.

This image shows how the Satin Bowerbirds take over my feeder tables.
Most afternoons, about 4:30pm, I get up to 10 Bowerbirds coming or going.
There are 6 birds in this frame - all "green birds".
I mostly feed them small apples and occasional pears.
A small price to pay for so much excitement.

But, before I go on, I promised a fellow Nature Blogger "Catmint" that I would show her an immature Crimson Rosella, to clarify some confusion which had arisen. Here are two.
Juvenile Crimson Rosellas start more-or-less green, with blue flashes on their wings, blue in the tail (always) and blue cheek patches (always).
Check out the notes about coloured plumage development in Birds in Backyards (Australian Museum and Birds Australia site).The tricky thing is that there are regional differences in these colour transformations. I get some fully red/blue Crimsons here, but the ratio is probably only 1:5. I know I regularly see a pair of fully coloured birds, but I regularly get a dozen multi-coloured birds in the garden feeding on the grass seeds. These birds (in these images) are typical of most Crimson Rosellas seen in Robertson. They are very common in my garden (yard) but this is the first time I have seen any at my Feeder.

As the Crimson Rosellas mature, they develop the full crimson (dark red) colour for which they are named.
Here is a lovely fully mature, fully red/blue Crimson Rosella, taken in Canberra several years ago.

Back to the Table, this Crimson was holding its own with the Bowerbirds, which is pretty good going, as they tend to mob other birds.

One bird which the Bowerbirds never "mob" is this Pied Currawong.
Note the huge beak (quite dirty, as it has obviously been digging for grubs).

Another unusual visitor to my feeder table is the Grey Butcherbird.
This is the second time I have seen one (both juveniles) experimenting with a fruit diet.

Contrast the sizes of this bird and the Currawong, which is sitting in roughly the same place (reversed directions).
The adult Butcherbirds are much cleaner, especially the males.
This one might be a young male, just developing his full markings.
His head is quite clearly marked, but the belly is still scalloped.

Back to Bowerbirds.
*****

Here is a stunning male.
Note the ivory-coloured beak
and the shiny blue-black plumage.
The "Blue Birds" are pretty nervous.
There is an optical illusion with the male birds.
They are so black that they almost appear to disappear.
If it were not for the pale beak, feet and those weird eyes,
you could almost not see the male.
Note the young bird flying in over the top.

Here is a female bird, showing strong markings on the wings, where a recent "moult" has seen new feathers grow in the wings.
The beak is fully dark, and the eye is purple. On the right is an immature male, just developing the ivory coloured beak.
The green colour around the neck is stronger green than the more bronze colour of the female.
Tree Dahlia flowers and fluffy Sassafras Seeds tomorrow.