Red Wattle Bird

I finally managed to get a good shot of this fast moving, rather shy bird, taking nectar from the ubiquitous echium. They also eat small insects and mince meat when they can steal it from under the beaks of the magpies.

I particularly liked this shot because you can clearly see the red wattle hanging down from alongside his ear, and his yellow under belly. Apart from that he's quite a drab bird. And they make the most horrendous scratchy noise, better than an alarm clock in the morning.

There are two other really good shots, which I'll upload to my Birds of the Adelaide Hills BlipFolio. One is a rear shot which shows the marking of his back feathers, which is Rower2012's favourite.