Gluepot Bird Sanctuary – more photographs

I’ve just been editing some of the photographs I took on my recent visit to Gluepot Bird Sanctuary near Waikerie in South Australia.

On several walks I took and during a long drive through the park on the last day of my visit, I observed that many of the mallee trees were in flower. These flowers act like magnets to the many honeyeater species common in the Australian mallee environment. The most common species attracted by the flowers was the Yellow Plumed Honeyeater.

Yellow-plumed Honeyeater

Yellow Plumed Honeyeater

Yellow Plumed Honeyeaters seemed to be almost everywhere, and very common wherever the mallee was in flower.

Towards the end of my drive through the reserve I stopped to identify two birds feeding on the ground near the roadside. I was delighted to observe a male and female Chestnut Quail-Thrush calmly walking along searching for food in the leaf litter. I managed to photograph both of them but the best shot was of the male.

Chestnut Quail-thrush

Chestnut Quail-Thrush

The striking plumage makes for excellent camouflage, but this individual was quite obvious on the bare earth.