I almost missed this gorgeous little Eastern Spinebill. I was overreacting to a pair of Spotted Pardalote that have been moving through our yard every second day or so, snatching at various insects, blending in amongst a flock of teeny, trilling Thornbills and a couple of overly attractive Golden Whistlers.
Spotted Pardalote are hands down one of my favourite birds ever and so any sighting of them is an 'all bets off' and 'every man for himself' occasion with even the dogs knowing they need to stay out of my way as I fly up and down stairs, whispering feverishly to get out of my way and huffing and puffing with excitement. I clearly need to get out more, but still. Super pretty birds.
But this Spinebill flew into one of the trees and I only noticed it as I was turning to head back inside. It stayed relatively still, in that it wasn't flying to various branches like the other birds. Instead it just stayed perched in the one spot, keeping its deep red eye on a small swarm of insects nearby, only its head pivoting, watching and waiting and deciding when to strike.
I'm sure it must have taken flight, launching itself up and into the cloud of bugs, maybe hovering as it caught them in the air. I missed that though. I was distracted by the lovely Pardalote and I'm sure you'll agree the resulting image was well worth the missed opportunity with the Spinebill 😉🙈
Eastern Spinebill
Northern Illawarra
