Birdlife drawn to creek

Keith Ireland snapped this Bar-breasted Honeyeater looking for insects amongst the foliage.

I have often gone looking for birds to photograph at different creeks in our area.

Creeks with water in them are ideal locations, not only for water birds themselves, but for the many others that use the nearby grass, trees and other suitable localities for foraging and nest building.

A friend of mine who is a keen bird watcher, rang me one morning to let me know that he had seen a bird moving about the trees at a local creek. He had been checking out the area for birds and been fortunate enough to spot this bird moving through the branches of one of the trees. From his description, I thought it would be a Bar-breasted Honeyeater. He sounded pleased when I said that I didn’t have photos of this bird and gave me directions to get there.

A couple of days later, I went in search of this bird, hoping it would still be there and hadn’t moved on. I found the creek and, with camera in hand, went for a walk along the bank.

I had no luck at all for some time as I roamed about. Then a movement above my head attracted my attention and I looked up.

There was a Bar-breasted Honeyeater looking for insects amongst the foliage . The Bar-breasted is mainly brown with feathers whitish. It has flecks across the chest and head as the illustration shows,

This bird builds a nest which hangs down from a branch over the water.

I was really pleased with the afternoon’s results and rang my friend to tell him and thank him for providing the opportunity to be able to photograph this lovely little bird.