By Nola Thorpe AT THIS time of the year some people are lucky enough to notice small black and red birds sitting on fences or in low shrubbery around the outer edges of the built-up area. These could be either scarlet robins or flame robins and they come back to our area at this time of the year after having spent the breeding season (spring and summer) in the rainforests. The gorgeous little male flame robin has a bright flame-red colour that extends from its belly right up to its beak. The female is a uniform light brown with a small white spot over the bill. The scarlet robin is not seen as often but has the same visiting routine. It has a scarlet breast and a black throat with a white spot on the head and some white feathers on its wing. The female is brown with a pale red wash on its breast. Another robin that is occasionally seen in ferny gullies is the pink robin. Where the scarlet robin is red, this one is pink. I have seen them at Walkerville and Tarra Valley. Rose robins can also be seen in these forested areas. | Flame robins. Above, the flamboyant male. Below, the much plainer female. Photos: Pauline Wilkinson |
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By Jack Airey
Jam Jerrup to Stockyard Point ON A cool, overcast and windy morning in January, 27 members of the Ringwood Field Naturalists Club and two guests from the Peninsula Field Naturalists Club met at Jam Jerrup for an excursion to Stockyard Point, identified by BirdLife Australia as an important bird area in Western Port. Western Port is the summer home to large numbers of international migratory shorebirds – birds that breed in Siberia and Alaska during the northern hemisphere summer and migrate south to Australia for our summer. While in Australia, the birds spend most of their time living on intertidal mudflats and the edges of shallow bodies of water, hence the name shorebirds, feeding on the invertebrates, molluscs, gastropods and small crustaceans that inhabit these areas. Birdwatchers in Australia will regularly travel to good “shorebird sites” during the summer months to observe these beautiful and amazing birds. By Jack Airey
ON A cool, overcast and windy morning in January, 27 members of the Ringwood Field Naturalists Club and two guests from the Peninsula Field Naturalists Club met at Jam Jerrup for an excursion to Stockyard Point, identified by BirdLife Australia as an important bird area in Western Port. |