Fwd: Red eared Firetail at Cheynes Beach

Hi Patrick, We have just been viewing Red-eared Firetails too, but at Lesmurdie Falls, WA. Looking at photos online it appears that Juveniles get the spots before they get their ear-patch colour, so the birds you saw were probably well grown but young birds. From Jenny Stiles, Sydney > >> On 27 Feb 2015, at 12:50 am, Patrick Scully <scullyp3@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Hello All, >> I just recently had a trip down to Cheynes Beach (20 to 24 th Feb) with >> Cherilyn Corker from Mandurah. >> We had luck with just one of the 3 skulkers, the Noisy Scrub- bird. It >> was calling but took enormous effort to get a brief view. The Western >> Whipbird was not calling at all, with exactly the same result at Mt Trio >> in the Stirling Ranges. We did hear one brief call of Western Bristlebird >> just opposite the entrance to Cheynes Beach caravan park. >> We did see an amazingly close view of Red eared Firetail and I suspect >> that Pizzey and Knight are wrong with their description of the female. We >> saw males with scarlet very bright (they were less than half a metre >> away) ear patches and what I assume to be females that were identical but >> with no ear patches. Is that correct? Can some knowledgeable person >> please explain. And is Pizzey wrong about the female? >> We were lucky with Rock Parrot. We had dinner with Cherry’s friend in >> Albany and she mentioned having seen an unusual bird on the beach, which >> of course was a Rock Parrot. We arranged to meet her on Sunday morning >> and drove to the cafe in the old whaling station and sure enough we had >> great views of Rock Parrot on the beach below the cafe and the next beach >> to the right of the cafe. I did try at Lancelin for another look without >> success. Another treat was a very close up view of Elegant Parrots >> perched on low tree branches at the Stirling Range Retreat in the >> afternoon. >> Best wishes, >> Patrick Scully >>