A Red Wattlebird has taken up residence in our backyard.
This assertive Australian native is particularly fond of our camellia trees, feeding on the nectar in the flowers…
We always know when it’s in the yard, by its very distinctive call – a harsh, sharp chok-chok call, which it makes by sticking out its chest and pointing its beak towards the sky. I was really happy to see that I’d managed to snap a pic of the bird mid-call…
Here’s a shot of its yellow underbelly…
Our noisy visitor tends to hide in the branches of our jacaranda tree most of the time, so it was a real treat to get to play paparazzi when it finally came out to pose for photos!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Cute….and you managed to get some great shots of it!
Thanks Sukaina! It was very high up – I was delighted the shots turned out as well as they did!
What fabulous shots! I stumbled across your site looking for more details on this bird, as I have one that has claimed my garden. He/she is also rather taken with the Camellia which is currently in full flower. And the assertiveness of this fabulous bird has created a marked decrease in the noisy miners that normally ‘rule the roost’ in my garden.
Thanks for stopping by! The shots really were a fluke – I pointed the camera towards the tree in the distance and just held the button down. :)
Our visitor seems to have moved on for now – haven’t heard him in the yard for a few weeks now…
How charming!
Today Pete’s been gardening in the back garden and our resident robin has been hopping and flitting about the whole time, even spending a while inside the greenhouse, investigating! He loves it when Pete gardens, making worms and insects come to the surface, where he can grab them!
Thanks Kavey! We have a couple of almost tame Rock Doves that hang out in our yard, trying to steal the chook’s grain. They’ve kind of adopted us!
What beautiful photos.It is great to hear the sound of birds.
Deb, I finally caught its call on a clip I was taking of the chickens! Will get it loaded when I write up the post!
Great photos Celia! Our big woofy keeps most shy birds from our yard, but he allows the parrots and finches. We have a resident Willy Wagtail, and nesting finches in the bushes. They aren’t intimidated by him, the cat isn’t either :)
I love that your dog can distinguish between the birds he allows and the ones he chases away, Becca! :)
It’s yellow belly is beautiful. Wonderful photos Celia.
Thanks Claire! Our birds are as colourful as those you get up north – I often wonder if it’s the difference in sunlight!
Great photo’s, close to home there are pink and grey gallahs and the yellow crested cockatoo…a noisy choir at day break! However the garden is also full of colourful finches…this guy looks just so proud when he echoes his bird call…!
Yvette, it sounds like a spray of colour in your neighbourhood!
Excellent photo’s of a very bossy member of the bird family!
We enjoy a wide variety of bird species up here on our hill, but we are NOT enjoying the family of swallows which have moved in under the back verandah, leaving their mark all over the furniture, pavers and piles of it on one of my awnings, above which they all like to sleep. We are trying to work out how to encourage them to move on.
Thanks Amanda! That is very annoying about the swallows! Any ideas yet on how to move them on?
A little know fact about Wattlebirds is they commonly have tongue adaptions suited to their feeding habits.
I was lucky enough to go on a few bird surveys with David Paton AM. What I can remember is the Red Wattlebird has 2 backward pointing spurs on their tongue (they use when scraping out the pollen). This is important as you must be very careful taking them out of the mist net as their tongue often gets caught. M {:0)
Moo, thanks for the info! I did read that honeyeaters in general have interesting tongues for feeding, but backward pointing spurs is definitely surprising!
Another beautifully photographed treasure.
:-) Mandy
Thanks Mandy! :)
Great pictures! We have lots of birds right now. The sparrows are a nuisance though, as they get into the greenhouse and damage the lettuce, etc.
Over here the old Italians and Greeks are well known for their bird alarm systems. We haven’t had to resort to ropes and old saucepans yet, but that’s mainly because all the neighbours are growing gorgeous figs and other fruits, and most of the birds head straight over there! :)
You’re so good at naming the birds and wildlife! And I must say that it is a beauteous, proud looking specimen and quite different from our usual visitors here :)
L, not really, I usually have to ask Pete. He’s pretty good at naming birds! :) Our little visitor does really look proud, doesn’t it?
Great pics Celia!
Thanks SG! :)
Great bird, great pix! Really Audubon-quality. I’m guessing you have some well-placed cams–what kind of equipment do you use? Technique? We get mostly crows, but there’s a flycatcher nest in one our ancient oaks and we’d love to get something like what you’ve captured. So far we’ve only
gotten a couple of blurry videos.
Hi there, and thank you for such a kind comment – I’m very chuffed that you think it’s that good.
I have to confess though, it was a very unsophisticated shot. I have a mid-range Lumix FZ100 with a fixed lens. I’m quite short-sighted, so when Pete and his brother Steve saw the bird, they called out to me, and I tried to find it in the viewfinder – it was up really high on a branch. And then I just clicked as many photos as I could before it flew away. I think I must have taken 30 photos to get the ones in the post. I was particularly pleased with the one where the bird is calling – I’ve never seen another Wattlebird photo like that!
You might also enjoy these photos that I took in January of an Australian Koel – who managed to cuckoo the Red Wattlebirds into raising it! :)
Celia they are lovely photos. I never see wattle birds around here, I’ll have to be on the look out more. He looks fairly big?
We have lots of black cockatoos flying across at the moment, such a majestic bird with their mournful cries.
In spring, their call sounds like ‘hot-pies, hot-pies, chips, chips, chips’
What an exotic visitor.
Lovely fotos Celia. I am doing a post on a picnic in Manhattan. I have hawks that live in the NY University area and they fly by my window all the time. Their names are Bobby and Violet and I just found out they just hatched -had a baby….
I’ve never seen one of those, your garden attracts lovely little feathered things Celia :)
Now that’s the second time this week I have seen a camellia tree on someone’s blog – why have I only seen bushes up until now?
Is this a conspiracy??
Handsome chap! Beautifully photographed too! xxx
So glad you liked him! (Although I’m not sure it’s a him – is there some way you can tell?)
Anyway, the bird was back in the yard yesterday, feeding in plain view!