Animal Friend of the Week: Silvereyes

Good morning from a grey and cool day here in Hastings.

My computer is by a window and I can look out onto the trees lining our street.  I sit here with my camera ready as I never know what I will see.  The other day I noticed a flock of silvereyes flitting around the tree, eating these berries.  They are really tiny but they have a beautiful birdsong.  So of course, guess what I then do – that’s right, the computer is forgotten while I shoot them.  With the camera of course.

The silvereye is a common small songbird immediately recognisable by its distinctive white eye-ring. It has olive-green plumage on the head, lower back and upper tail, and mid-grey on the hindneck, sides of neck and upper back. The upper wings are mostly dark olive green, with narrow lines of yellowish green, and the tail is dark olive green. The underparts are whitish-cream on the throat and upper breast, creamy grey on the belly and undertail, the flanks are pinkish-buff, the thighs are white, and the underside of the wings creamy-white. The dark brownish-black bill is fine, short and sharply pointed. The iris is dark reddish-brown, and the legs and feet pale brown. The sexes are alike. Juveniles have similar colouring to adults but lack the white eye-ring.

Voice: a range of clear often high-pitched and melodious calls including warbles, and trills, often repeated, used in a wide variety of contexts. The main contact is a plaintive creee, and the flight call a shorter cli-cli, with many birds calling at once. Full song is a quiet, long liquid warble, similar to the song of the dunnock.

Similar species: bellbird is similar build but twice the size, lacks the white-eye ring and is olive-green on underparts as well as upperparts.

A gregarious species, silvereyes are well known for flocking especially in winter. They are a mobile species that forages actively for food in parklands, woodlands, suburban gardens, forests and scrublands. Aggressive interactions are common within flocks, with a dominant bird performing rapid wing fluttering and short aggressive chases of other birds. Some local seasonal movement and even migration within the country may occur; for example, a bird banded in Marlborough was recovered in Wellington.

New Zealand Birds

I just loved this adorable rabbit over at Sonya’s blog –

Sonyavdg: Animal Friend of the Week

 

I want to showcase our animal kingdom.  It runs from Tuesday New Zealand time and is weekly.  You can join in anytime at all over the week.  You can post your furry friends (babies), wild animals, birds, insects and butterflies.  Even reptiles are welcome.

Just use this logo and link back to this blog.

I look forward to seeing all the different animals around the world

Thanks for visiting.