Singing Honeyeaters

 There are 5 house sparrows sitting on the roof ridge of the house next door. I can see them from my office chair through the open venetian blinds and window. In the time taken for me to write that, they have come down onto the table on the back patio, picking up scraps and crumbs left after the magpies came down for their feed earlier. 

The magpies are almost tame. They come every day, a number of times. I don't put food out for them till I see them or hear them calling me. In the time it took me to write that, they called. I went out and put some food on the table and they're indulging. There's two sparrows now on the ridge next door, waiting, and two crested pidgeons. There was a fly catcher on the table earlier. After them the fairy wrens come, seemingly finding miniscule specks left by all the others.

I make a mix of boiled eggs, cheese and bread (and left over cooked meat if I have it) chopped fine,  to which I add a couple of spoons of Wombaroo - Insectivore Rearing Mix bought from a pet shop. According to the pack this contains a long list of ingredients including meat and fish meal and various oils, acids, vitamins and minerals. They love it.

And I love watching them come and eat. We're very lucky to live next to a treed river reserve with an 18 hole golf course to the back. A bird haven really. There are big numbers of galahs and black cockatoos in particular, and New Holland Honeyeaters, and a multitude of water birds in the lagoons on the river. The big flocks of corellas have gone away for now. I saw a pair of unfamiliar birds on my walk on the golf course the other evening, little ones flying close to the ground a bit like martins, they stopped after short flight and ran like dotterils. They were light brown with white underwing. I haven't consulted the bird books yet. (Have since - think they are Australasian Pipits) 

I was walking by myself with Pip on The Bluff a few weeks ago and saw some birds I didn't recognize. I had binoculars but couldn't get close enough to have a good look. There was maybe 20 of them in the low vegetation but as I neared they took off. One or two settled where I could see them and I had a bit of a look. Like a sparrow from the back, but bigger, and with paler chest it seemed. I consulted a bird book when I got home but couldn't find it. When Marg and Phil were here we went out to Granite Island for a walk and there were numerous of the same bird amongst the coastal shrubs and with notable call. Quails were prevalent also. This time I got a closer look and Margaret and I reckon they're the Singing Honeyeater, from our check in Fleurieu Birds by Peter Gower, an excellent book. It says there are 28 species of birds on Granite Island including the Little Penguin.