Still Splendid?

I think so! He may be losing his brilliant breeding plumage, but I don't think that makes him any less gorgeous.

Wonderful marathon birding effort today with friends down south of Perth. First stop Lake McLarty where we stodged around in gumboots checking out waders and trying to hunt down a rare visiting vagrant. Did we find him? Absolutely! And you're probably wondering why I havn't posted him as my blip... it was a tough choice but I have been trying to get an up close decent shot of a splendid for a really long time so for me I couldn't go past this one.

But here is mr Red-Throated Pipit for you all too :) He was an absolute highlight of the morning, especially seeing as it took us the better part of the morning to find him! Red-throated pipits have only been sighted in Australia three times previously, so this is particularly special! The Red-throated Pipit (Anthus cervinus) is a small passerine bird which breeds in the far north of Europe and Asia and northern Alaska. It is a long-distance migrant moving in winter to Africa, south and east Asia and west coast USA. It is a vagrant to western Europe. And now Australia too!

Other highlights was another lifer sighting - White fronted chat, as well as getting some awesome shots of an osprey.