Cheeky Miner birds at Dubbo

Yellow-throated Miner, Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo

One of the things I noticed on our visit to the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo was the number of honeyeaters. The zoo enclosures and the road visitors take on their tour feature many local plants, especially eucalypts. A good number of these are flowering at any one time and this attracts the nectivorous birds such as honeyeaters.

One of the honeyeater  species which came up close and personal was the Yellow-throated Miner. One of them is featured in today’s photos. We treated ourselves to an ice-cream from the visitor centre and sat in the picnic area nearby to enjoy our treat. This miner came up really close, checking out if we had any morsels to share with it. The close proximity of the bird made photography easy.

Yellow-throated Miners are found over much of Australia except for the wetter eastern and southern coastal regions and Tasmania. A similar species is the Noisy Miner.

Further reading:

• Time for a sweet break – another photo of a Miner at the zoo
• Noisy Miner Murray Bridge
• Great birding moments
• Miners v Mynas

Yellow-throated Miner, Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo