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Not sure how good my identification is. Still waiting on the Field Guide to Birds of Australia by Daly and Simpson. Pretty sure it's Superb Fairy Wren both male and female. The male is mid flight. Although it doesn't look like it's fully developed it's colors just yet for breeding (either that or losing it). Gordon or Nicole, please step in and correct me
This shot, and I plan to post a few more were taken at Tower Hill gaming reserve. It's really a must if you're down that way, along with Killarney beach for waterbirds. My suggestion is to get there at about 6.30-7.00am and enjoy. The surroundings are so alive with birds. You can also get a good display of Kangaroos. I saw a couple of males battling it out to prove to the female who was the best.

Exif ->

ISO 200
Focal Length: 340MM
Manual Mode
Shutter: 1/320
Aperture: F/8
Metering: Spot
Method: Handheld
Lens: 70-200VR with 1.7TC


Click for larger image.

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Here are some more of the same bird.

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<a href="http://darryl.smugmug.com/photos/21307921-O.jpg"></a>

Really nice fine detail of such small birds.

I'm surprised the 70-200 + 1.7 gave you enough reach!

I'm pretty sure you're right about the ID and you're right about the loss of breeding colours. Looks like it's moulting. When you get the book you can see when the breeding seasons are.

Considering how small they are you did well to get some nice shots. They move around fast too!

Onyx, Nicole....I was very privelleged. I think I mentioned to you Nicole how at Tower Hill they flew and were only about <4m from where I was. I was on my own, it was early in the morning, nobody else in sight. It was a very lucky moment. It was beautiful to watch as well as the female cleaned herself, then the male. Btw this was a crop from 3008 to 1400 then resampled to 984 and added a 40px border. I think it was more luck then capturing them all the time with the 70-200VR (with TC). I've tried it at other times and you just can't do it. Tower Hill is a very special place as the path goes through the trees and reeds where the birds live. So you can just happen to luck upon a set of birds without them being too worried.

A great place for small bird pix very early morning is north head Sydney as you look down the harbor in the small brushes

I was shooting harbor ferries at the time, about 7am, and noticed the busy birds

cheers
bp

Sorry ..... great pix of such a small bird

thats one bloody ugly fairy wren

Kipper - beautiful

Kipper, these are terrific! The first one with the male in flight is great timing, and the next couple are really sharp and detailed.

kipper
i have tried 3 times going to a local place to capture the fairy wren but can only catch glimpses of these bloody birds ! i have my 200-400 vr with a 1.4 teleconverter so i figure if one stands still for more than 2 seconds ..... i'll get the b.....d ! ......... thanks for posting these good pics gives me hope !
cheers rob

At the end of this month I am Camping in Sundown NP and the last time I was there these birds were all around our campsite. Hopefully they will be there again and provide some photo opportunities.

kipper wrote:Not sure how good my identification is...

I'm sure its a wren of some sort, but dont think its a Superb Fairy Wren, they almost never stand with tails downwards like these are, plus the feathers are too ruffled looking, and colours not quite right, especially the browns on the male.
I dont know for sure what it is though.. maybe a variegated wren? Where exactly is Tower Hill? its a gaming reserve?, do people go there to shoot animals?
I know a few expert birders and will ask their opinions

Gordon

Hi Kipper,

Well done, mate. These are so small that even with your TC, you got to get very close to them. Very hard to capture these guys and they so fast and hardly stay still. On the side note, there's too much sharpening applied.

regards,

Arthur

The 1st has too much, don't believe 2nd and 3rd do. It's hard not to have too much sharpening because the images haven't really been sampled down to lower resolution. These were pretty much a straight crop to destination resolution. Sampling down, usually removes a lot of issues with noise and sharp images.

Gordon, yeah wasn't too sure if they were. They'd just had a bath though, so that could of changed the colors. I know that's why they're ruffled.

Tower Hill is about half way inbetween Port Fairy and Warnambool - South West Coast of Vic. I think the only hunting allowed is during duck season

I believe it's a Thornbill of some sort.

My fanatical bird loving boss suggests its a Emu Wren - possibly an Southern Emu Wren

Ray

Jenno wrote:My fanatical bird loving boss suggests its a Emu Wren - possibly an Southern Emu Wren

Ray

I'd agree with that, although the colour pattern does not match the pics in Simpson and Day. The tail feathers are quite similar though.


Gordon

The only reason I thought it was a Thornbill was because I came across this photo and the shape of the body and beak look very similar.

Gordon, I've ordered Simpson and Day, waiting on it's arrival.

Yeosca, just found out why the first pic looks a bit grainy. I'd just come out of a bird hide that looked into a lot of reeds and canes. Was using ISO 1000 there and when I came out and walked down the path I forgot to change. I think I shot that first pic in ISO 1000 looked at the dial and saw my aperture was quite small and thought that the ISO must of been bumped right up and quickly changed it down. Straight after that shot my next was as dark as anything, quickly dialled in a new shutter and aperture setting.

Has anybody used Noise Ninja here? Do they setup a profile for their camera using the color chart or do they just hope for the best and use the quick profile.

Great pics, Kipper. I will agree that they are Southern Emu-Wrens.

Regards
Meicw

Meicw, find me a picture of a southern emu-wren that looks like this bird.
Every ornothology website I've been to the bird looks totally different.

Sorry, Darryl. Didnt mean to offend. I was agreeing with Jenno and her boss. The pic I have in Cayley's book looks very similar to your birds. Guess I had better keep my bird ID's to myself.

Regards
Meicw

Sorry, was the red wine talking lastnight. Oops.
Just having a lot of people tell me that it's such and such, then others telling me it's not. I'd just like a 100% correct ID
If you could get a scan of this photo from the book it'd be great.
I should be getting The Field Guide to Australian Birds sometime this week, so this should help somewhat. I hope.

I've sent the pics off to that lady who took me to the You Yangs etc. Hope you don't mind. She is an expert on bird identification. Settle this for once and for all.

That's fine Nicole.