A group of small birds in the treetops could be thornbills, pardalotes, honeyeaters or silvereyes. Another option is sittellas.
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A group of varied sittellas was spotted on the upper branches of trees recently. Six or eight of these short-tailed small birds moved quickly down and around small branches, soon flitting from one tree to the next.
They are attractive little birds, with tan-orange patches in their wings and black stripes under their tails. Local birds have dark heads or caps.
In other parts of the country, there are white-headed and white-winged sittellas, as well as others. Each was once considered a separate species, but now they are regarded as one species with several different colour forms, hence the official name of varied sittella.
In some ways, sittellas resemble treecreepers, but there are many differences between the two groups.
Varied sittellas are small birds, about the size of a silvereye, while treecreepers are starling-sized.
Sittellas generally probe for food on the upper branches of trees, but treecreepers spend most of their time on trunks and thicker branches.
Sittellas work head-down more than head-up, but treecreepers always work head up. Sittellas are usually in groups, while tree-creepers are usually seen singly or in pairs.
Once known as tree runners, they get their name from an earlier scientific name.
Like many small birds, sittellas are not as numerous as they once were. Almost every outing to timbered country would once reveal at least one group, but now we find them on perhaps one out of every five or six bushland outings. Almost hyper-active little birds, they seem at times to defy gravity as they run in quick jerky bursts up, down and under branches - seeming to hop along under branches without using their wings.
EARLY FLOWERS
July is traditionally a quiet time for wildflowers, but a couple of orchid species were reported at the July meeting of the Field Naturalists Club of Ballarat.
These were emerald-lip greenhood near Scarsdale (first sighted in early June), and mosquito orchid flowering in Enfield State Park, Berringa and Dereel.
The leaves of spring-flowering orchids are appearing noticeably in many bushland places.
Another recent flower - this time a shrub - is the woolly wattle, noticed in the Scarsdale area earlier this month.
Not far away, the spreading wattle has been flowering for a month or more west of Linton. Early winter is its normal flowering time.
NATURE QUERIES ANSWERED
I noticed on June 24 that our dominant blue wren was starting to show the first hint of colour. On June 29, it was more than 90 per cent and, on July 1, 100 per cent adult plumage. Does a week sound about right?
D.K., Clunes.
Blue wrens (fairy wrens) are unusual in that they moult twice a year.
The males lose their bright feathers in late summer, gaining brown feathers like females. They moult back into their blue plumage in winter, with older males regaining their blue colour earlier. Your observation of a week's moult to change colour seems a short time. The moult from the brown plumage to blue breeding plumage is said to take about two weeks. Very careful observation would be needed to assess the very beginning and completion of the moult.
Questions and photos are welcome. Send to Roger Thomas at The Courier, PO Box 21, Ballarat, 3353, or email to rthomas@vic.australis.com.au