I was out at a Scouts Christmas party today,a friends son is in the Joeys,and,I spotted a few birds flitting around,luckily I had my Big Siggy with me and after a few minutes searching,I found this little chap.It was about 1:00pm so the light was very harsh.
And where would that chestnut-breasted mannikin have been spotted, kevinj?
Lovely pic, Kevin. Quite a stylish little bird they are.
The back of their head looks a bit like chain mail in a way.
Oh, he is a little bit divine! I've never seen one of these before. Love that you captured him while he was perching on lunch too (I presume), lovely!
West Coast Tasmania
They are the most handsome of the grass-finches, IMHO. It is a great photo as well!
Brandon (aka ihewman)
Thankyou for your comments,they are a lovely bird and this one was not to flighty.I found him at "Colleges Crossing Recreation Reserve" at Chuwar,going to have to go back at Sunrise one day to see what else is there,I did spot a White Breasted Sea Eagle but couldn`t get close enough to him for a shot.
Shooting Birds with a Canon.
Great shot, Kevin. I have not seen one yet, beautiful bird.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Nice shot Kevin, I have never see one before. Another for my bucket list, it is getting very long!
Wow! what a cute little bird, I don't think I've ever seen one but will be on the lookout now for sure.
I've been feeding the nutmeg mannikins lately. Yes, I know they are exotic and some say they compete with our native finches, but I haven't seen a native for decades.
There was a party going on in the birdbath with water flying everywhere so I got the binoculars out and saw a few chestnut breasted mannikins mixed in with them. I found this on an American site, I think they were talking about Hawaii:
So there is nothing odd in a mixed flock. Would they interbreed?
And would the fact that we [Townsville] had a failed wet season and have seen no rain since have forced a migration into the city? I back onto the foothills of Mt Stuart. Our red-tailed black population is said to have arrived in the '70s during another big dry. They are a common sight now. :)
They are a handsome bird and I would like to encourage them to stick around.
Great photo. I love these little guys.
I understand that the feral Nutmeg Mannikin is displacing or has displaced the native Chestnut-breasted Mannikin in many parts of Queensland & NSW so your encouragement of the ferals is unlikely to be of any benefit at all to the native species, Thommo. You would do better on behalf of the Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, I suggest, were you to cease feeding the ferals & establish habitat for the natives. Mind you, your neighbours may need to do likewise but a start needs to be made somewhere or we may be on the road to eventually kissing the Chesnut-breasted Mannikin goodbye.
If the two species interbreed then the genetic integrity of the native species would be compromised so this is another good reason to avoid feeding the Nutmeg Mannikins. However, I'm unaware that interbreeding occurs. Other posters may have information on this.
Nice work, pretty rare bird my way. One definetly to try find when i head north of sydney.
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