This native beautiful firetail finch (Stagonopleura bellum) was browsing a Huon Valley (Tasmania) front lawn yesterday.
They get around in ones or twos, and don’t seem to be particularly rare. They are different from the painted firetail (Emblema pictum) of the Australian mainland.
Much more common in the Huon now are goldfinches, visiting lawns in big flocks at this time. While feral, they are an attractive addition to the garden.
The male electric blue wrens are the most gawdy of the lot. Some years there are many of them, other years, very few.
Also about the past year have been black cockatoos, sulfur-crested cockatoos, wedge-tailed eagles, green rosellas and red-breasted robins. We see a few birds we can’t ID.
Meanwhile, one of the feral zebra finches is still kicking around, it seems to have lost its mate … previous story here.