Orioles and Kingfishers

It was great weather on the weekend, warm, sunny and not too windy. I spent a few hours at Green’s Bush seeing what the warmer weather had brought into the forest.  At the car park I heard and found my first seasonal visitor: the Olive- backed Oriole. It was high up in a tall Eucalyptus calling and quite difficult to see with its camouflaged plumage.  Its very distinctive call helps to pinpoint it in the upper canopy. Towards the end of a nice long walk around the full Baldry Circuit at Greens Bush I found this Sacred Kingfisher intently watching the ground. I usually hear this species rather than see it: it makes a short sharp triple bark. It is a tiny bird, hunting insects and small lizards, pouncing from perches like the branch below. It is the first time I have seen one at Green’s Bush. I only found it because I was looking for birds nesting or roosting in tree hollows and saw the bright blue plumage against the dark tree bark. 

Sacred Kingfisher, Greens Bush, Mornington Penninsula National Park, Vic

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Camouflaged Olive-backed Oriole, Greens Bush