Pardalotes up close

Striated Pardalote (juvenile)

Yesterday I was in the garden looking at one of the bushes coming into flower. Without any warning, two juvenile Striated Pardalotes landed on the fence not much more than a metre from where I stood. They looked me over for about 30 seconds before flying off.

Of course, like so many other encounters with birds, I didn’t have my camera with me because I had gone into the garden to check on the swimming pool, not thinking of seeing any birds up close.

Instead, I have posted a photo of the same species taken at one of our bird baths some time ago.