This is a very shot post because on the Friday before Bigfigtree and I were due to go to Corang Arch the next day I observed what I decided was a very good omen for our trip. I really wanted to post these photographs but I had no story ready that they fitted so I have made the photographs a post in and of themselves. The good omen was that I had just returned from work that Friday afternoon when I saw that there were four, possibly five stunningly beautiful Superb Parrots (Polytelis swainsonii) in a Broad-leaf Privet (Ligustrum lucidum) tree eating the berries. I thought that I saw three males and two females but later I could only count two males. Initially one male was high in a eucalyptus tree in our neighbour’s front yard, while the other parrots were in a tree in our garden. When I approached the tree in our yard most of these bright green birds flew straight to the eucalyptus but at least one male stayed behind to continue eating on what he must have decided were very delicious berries. He was the main subject of the photographs because he resolutely continued to eat on a branch that was exposed and closest to me. Occasionally a cloud would clear from the sun and he would be lit up beautifully by the late afternoon glow. Eventually, most of the other birds returned to the privet tree to eat more of those tiny berries but the females were generally on the inside of the tree.
A male Superb Parrot eating Broad-leaf Privet
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1600, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/200 SEC])
The brave Superb Parrot who just wanted to eat
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1600, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/200 SEC])
Duller coloured female Superb Parrot
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1600, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/200 SEC])
