Wednesday, June 20, 2012

World Bird Wednesday: Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

While waiting for my daughter to get out of surgery, hubby & I visited a local suburban park near the hospital. This park isn't listed as a birding spot but a walk on the boardwalk into the marsh resulted in a real treat.
We discovered many small birds flitting about & singing. This little Chestnut-breasted Mannikin (and friend/partner??) were quite happy to allow me to get a little closer for a few shots. Another first real lifer for me.



I think the next few shots are the female (correct me if I'm wrong?) as it was smaller



I believe this is the male - much stockier & with brighter colours.


For more wonderful birds from around the world click the link below:

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30 comments:

HansHB said...

So nice to see this serie! Great shots!
Have a nice evening!

TexWisGirl said...

gorgeous little birds! nice!

NatureStop said...

Liz, great captures indeed.Wishing your daughter a speedy recovery.Have a great day!

Shantana

Serendipityissweet said...

Wow, these are fantastic! I love his little blue beak.

LindyLouMac said...

A first for me even virtually, handsome chap. Do hope your daughter is recovering well Liz.

Unknown said...

Stunning colours in this fellow!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

Springman said...

Lifer + great captures = ecstacy!

MadSnapper said...

my first viewing of these adorable little guys. great shots

Linda said...

Great little bird, one I've never heard of before

Joop Zand said...

Never seen this lovely bird....very nice pictures Liz.

greetings, Joop

Dave said...

Thats a seriously stunning bird - very well captured in this post.

My first view of this species so have just googled it and glad I did

Thanks for giving me my topic to learn for the day

Dave

Brian King said...

I'm not familiar with that bird, but I love the blue bill and gorgeous plumage! It's a rather stocky little thing. Hope your daughter is doing okay.

mick said...

Great photos of a beautiful little bird and one that I haven't seen or photographed yet.

FilipBlog said...

I don't know anything about birds but when I look at the duck in the pond next to my house, the males are very colouful and the females more simple. If the same applies for the birds on your pictures, I would say they are both male.

Good luck with the surgery, I hope you both get postive news.

Greetings,
Filip

Jaymi said...

oh wow these are great bird shots! Birds always seem to fly away before I have a chance to focus on them!

Pauline said...

Great shots of a lovely little bird. And thanks for knowing what it is - I didn't! Hope your daughter is recovering as expected.

Grandma Barb's This and That said...

Really cute little birds that I've never seen or heard of.

Saun said...

Awesome set! I love his little blue feet.

Nadege, said...

You are so lucky they didn't fly away. They are so sweet, great captures.

Carole M. said...

oh fabulous Liz that these finches were so friendly and you could get some wonderful snaps.

Unknown said...

gorgeous little birds! nice!
I like your pics.

escorts in kanpur

Stewart M said...

Hi there - I always like it when you find a bird (or a picture) when you did not really expect it. It feels like a treat.

I can recommend A trip to O'Reillys - I went on one organised morning birding trip and felt it was a little too much like see caged birds that just happened to be free (if that makes any sense!). But I had some wonderful walks on my own which more than made up for that feeling!

Stewart M

PS: hope all things go well with your daughters surgery.

Nancy said...

A gorgeous little bird -- I love his blue feet, Liz!

Anonymous said...

What a pretty little bird! Lovely captures.

Michael S-B said...

Great pictures of a very elusive bird, in light that was fading and with all that foliage to make it harder. I was really impressed at how well you caught them. A nice surprise too, since we only really expected ducks and reflections at that park!!!

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Wonderful series. I especially like the second last. Quite a treat indeed. Hope you daughter is recovering well....

Regarding your questions on my bird post............ For the square-tailed kite shots I had the camera set to sport mode which worked particularly well as it flew overhead, giving me a sequence. It was so close, the second, third and fourth are NOT cropped at all (lens zoomed to 270mm).

For the egret I had not time time change anything, just zoomed and snapped in no-flash-auto. For the kookaburra I was in P mode to focus on his eye as best I could.

Hope this helps.....I'm just a beginner when it comes to settings

Larry said...

Awesome shots of teh Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Liz! What a gorgeous bird. It would be a lifer for me too! Congrats!

Karin M. said...

Wow, that's a particularly beautiful bird. I've never seen such a bird. Very nice photos.
Love greetings, Karin

Carletta said...

His color and feather patterns are quite unique! Pretty!

Graham Edwards said...

Another new bird for me.

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