tags: Scarlet Honeyeater, Myzomela sanguinolenta, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Scarlet Honeyeater, Myzomela sanguinolenta, photographed at Yungaburra, Queensland, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 1/1250 sec, f/4 iso 400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The photographer writes:
One of the fun things about photographing wild birds and nature are the unexpected encounters. I've learned that the best shots happen only because I get out there with an open mind always looking for anything interesting. You can never be sure what you'll find and the opportunities are often fleeting. In this case, we were acting on a tip to get some shots of wild Platypus. While we were watching a Platypus foraging in the stream below, this beautiful Scarlet Honeyeater flew into a Bottlebrush tree just a few feet from us. Our attention immediately shifted to the Honeyeater until it left as quickly as it arrived.
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http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=148
the male Scarlet honeyeater
I have to agree with you Etta, a male Scarlet or Crimson Honeyeater, Myzomela sanguinolenta, on what may be a Weeping Bottlebrush, Callistemon viminalis, a shrub native to Queensland...
http://www.birdphotos.com.au/Scarlet%20Honeyeater/default.html
oh wait, forgot the "field mark"... strongly curved bill, dark eyes, differentiated from the similar Red-headed Honeyeater (M. erythrocephala) in that the scarlet coloration extends down the back (as seen above) rather than ending on the nape, whitish underparts (suggested in the photo above) and as implied in my earlier post, as a nectar feeder and native to the east coast of Australia, should indeed have been found in Queensland...
Let's hear it for shape recognition. "That's got to be a honeyeater," thinks I, never having seen one in real life, and if I was naming this one, I'd call it a Scarlet Honeyeater too. It's pleasant when bird names match what you see....
A good example of how a map can be a useful field guide -- I might have called this an Apapane from Hawaii.