Bronze beauty !

Usually at this time of year it’s a Stubble Quail that causes the heart to beat faster when it is inadvertently flushed from long grass with a clatter of wings. But the quail are absent this season, and lately it’s the Common Bronzewing that produces the same effect when it suddenly flies off a few metres away in the back of our property near Strath Creek. Often all you see is a fairly dull-plumaged plump bird rapidly flying off low to the ground, and disappearing into shrubbery or low branches of a tree.

While driving along Upper King Parrot Creek Road the other day, we spotted a bronzewing sitting in the middle of the road – which is actually not an uncommon occurrence near Carver Creek. The bird eventually flew off and perched in a roadside tree, so as usual it was screech to a halt and out with the camera to try to get a shot. Fortunately the light was just right to capture the bronzed green iridescence of its wing that gives the bird its common name, but which doesn’t always show up in photos. Bronzewing indeed!