The Rower's on a roll

It's all about the Rower today. He commandeered the 300 mm lens which was ok with me, because I had my 100 mm thinking I would do a macro of some tiny sundews which were just coming up in the Park.

Suffice to say when I got home, I was not happy with the sundews. The light wasn't right, the angle wasn't right. It just....wasn't right. You know how it is some times.

But the Rower! Hey, you got to check out his blip today. Talk about raunchy! The sequence of events was so good that he's put the whole story into his Blip Folio. And now he understands that sometimes you just have to stand still and wait. Something is bound to happen.

While I was doing my abortive images of the sundews he wandered off track again, and oh glory be, he got a Weebill. And the generous bloke that he is, he gave it to me to blip. Yet another for THE list. The Weebill (Smicrormis brevirostris) is Australia's smallest bird. About 8 cm, and can be mistaken for a thornbill, but the bill is shorter and thicker. (He also got an excellent image of a brown thornbill, but that's already on THE list, so we needn't talk about that).

Listen, we've just got to get a longer lens. So at least we can have a long lens each. I saw a Grey Fantail, but the 100 mm lens just wasn't good enough.

Enough chat - here's what Birds in Backyards say about the adorable little Weebill.

The Weebill's common name comes from the short, stubby, pale beak. The eye is pale cream, and there is a pale line above the eye. Weebills are dull grey-brown on the head and olive-brown on the back, and the underparts are buff to yellow. In the south and east of the country, the birds are light brown, while northwards and inland they become paler and more yellow. Both sexes are similar in colouration, and young birds can be separated from the adults by their greyer eye.

It is found throughout mainland Australia, inhabiting almost any wooded area, with the exception of the wettest forests, but favours open eucalypt forests. It spends most of its time in the canopy, in pairs or small groups. The birds stay in the same area throughout the year.

Weebills move in active flocks, feeding mainly in the outer edges of the tops of trees. The bill is well suited to taking small scale insects from the leaves; other insect prey is also eaten.

The nest is a neatly woven dome, made from grasses and other fine vegetation. It has a narrow spout-like entrance towards the top. The interior of the nest is lined with feathers and soft vegetable matter. The female alone incubates the eggs, but both parents care for the young birds.