Best lookin’ bird on the block

I did the get up early before sunup today, (public holiday in Melbourne), and headed out to the park to settle in early.  Got there just on sunup, but with plenty of light in the sky, the birds were already on the move.

It took me about 30 minutes before I heard the Scarlet Robin, in the distance, over there, no, over there, no over there I think.  He moves that fast.

As luck would have it, I located him on one side of the security fence, with me on the other.  No hope of getting closer, and he was moving about in the tops of the trees.  With the sun up, the light was great but he was just a bit to far away for great detail.

But he does look great, is very quick, and is now covering more than a kilometre of the park, as I found him again later in the morning way down the range.

Now all grown up, this bird is patrolling a huge expanse of the forest. He is working from tall tree to tall tree to get his message across.

Still in Residence

The young male Scarlet Robin is still in residence.
He seems to have taken over a large area of the park to patrol, and swiftly moves from place to place.  His cheery call is quite loud and it is a good indication of the direction he is moving.

Sometimes he comes to visit his consort, the female redcap, and they play a chasing round the bushes game, but then she settles down and he takes off again to other parts of the park.

After a bout of flying over his territory the Scarlet Robin returns to visit the young female Red-capped Robin

His speedy flight around the park makes him a bit difficult to find if he is not being vocal. Fortunately he is quite happy to show off his singing skills.

Scarlet Robin moulting into a fine young fellow

This Scarlet Robin has been in residence in the park near home for about 4 weeks.   He has moulted out of his juvenile feathers into a fine looking male bird.

He has a female Redcapped Robin for a companion, and she too has moulted into her lovely grey brown colours.
They hunt and preen together, and I suppose they have been company for one another during the juvenile stage.  When the robins return to the park for the winter it will be interesting to see what happens.