Pollination is the name of the game.
Mar 7th, 2009 by Duncan
The Eastern Spinebill has usually been a fleeting visitor to our garden, quickly shunted on by the dominant New Hollands, but with the latter in short supply we’ve had two or three spines working over the correas that are now flowering. They’re hyperactive little gems and not easy to catch, especially when the light is not bright. One was very active this afternoon, first in the shaded Correa schlectendalii, then later in the hybrid reflexa x decumbens plants which were in a bit more sun. It was a young bird that hadn’t attained the beautiful adult plumage, but I was happy to get the shots nevertheless. It’s easy to see how they pollinate the native flowers, gradually its forehead and face collected more and more pollen until it was thickly coated in the last picture. Click to enlarge and toggle to full screen for the verticals.
