More images from West Wyalong.

Following up on yesterday's post, I wish to publish a few more birds. But firstly I will show some habitat shots.

These Ironbark Eucalypts were flowering, but not very heavily. However, they were the main food plants for the large numbers of Honeyeaters present in the Nature Reserve.

The next plants to flower will be these Mallee Eucalypts. They have made good growth since the rain in February, and now are budding heavily and should be in heavy flower in about 3 weeks, I would think. Some were already starting to flower.This plant is the iconic "Wyalong Wattle" Acacia cardiophylla

Here is the whole shrub, about 2.5 metres tall
starting to swell the buds, and hence it is looking slightly yellowish
against the blue-grey foliage of the Ironbarks..

Here is a close-up of the leaves and buds.

And now back to the birds.
A lovely clean image of a female Red-capped Robin

By contrast, this image (click here) shows some considerable variation in this species, as it is a shot of another female without a red cap, which I photographed last year. And click here, to see the male.

Another Honeyeater we caught was the medium-large species - the White-eared Honeyeater. Not as large as the Spiny-cheeked HE, but much larger than the Brown-headed HE. This species has a very wide distribution and it is not fussy about its habitats. One thing I noticed was the variation in its calls, across its range.
This next is probably the smallest bird we handled this weekend - the Western Gerygone. (Gerygone fusca)

It is very small, grey above and silver underneath.
Its red eye, white ring around the eye
and white bar across the tip of the tail are all distinctive features.
This one will be familiar to many readers - the Eastern Rosella.
It is a male in fine breeding plumage.
It is being handled very carefully, as Rosellas can really bite hard.

Here it is at the banding table,
with scales and wing measuring ruler in evidence.
By contrast with all Crimson Rosellas, this species has white cheek patches.

I promised Mick from Sandy Straits and Beyond that I would publish this tonight. It is a male Rufous Whistler. Mick has photographed a fine male on her blog, too.