Picture Perfect ... Superb Blue-wrens
A delightful tale of a delightful bird from Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo Island found its way into our camera lens on a very cold and bleak wintry day. It all began for Colin and I while on our annual wedding anniversary trip to the Island ... August 2008.
The morning started out with yellow skies, icy grounds everywhere and so cold was the air it hurt even to breathe, so we decided it was going to be an in-house day for us!
With heaters set on high and cameras set at all windows waiting for our little Blue friends to appear, our computers were working overtime. The holiday home "Koopalanda Dreaming" - Point Ellen where we stay is on the boundary of a National Conservation Park, a small part of Kangaroo Island's extreme rugged coastline. Wildlife abounds all over and this little wren family would appear again and again as they did on this South Australia's coldest day on record! Point Ellen is atop the stunning Vivonne Bay Beach, where rips can be deadly, waves can be surfed, boats can be moored, whales give birth, simply a beautiful beach to behold. On the leeward side, huge swells, deadly waves, hidden reefs. KI's Coastal Conflict post (5) tells of more:
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Photo courtesy of Coralie Riedel
RUSTIC BLUE GALLERY
Kangaroo Island
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The wrens came, the wrens went, our day was so rewarded with wonderful photography from this little couple that we decided to share our photography with all, putting together a delightful coffee table book called "VIVONNE BAY BLUE" dedicated to the
Superb Blue-wrens from Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo Island. Our photographic book, while it does not have too many words! it presents a view of looking through a window into the private lives of the
Superb Blue-wren.
This delightful
Superb Blue-wren (
Malurus cyaneus), also known as the
Superb-Fairywren or colloquially as the
Blue Wren, is a passerine bird of the family Maluridae, common and familiar across southeastern Australia. The Super Blue-wren can be found in almost any area that has at least a little dense under-growth for shelter, including grasslands with scattered shrubs, moderately thick forests, woodlands and heaths. It is a jaunty wren and is a great favourite, not only for the beautiful colouring of the males, but because it has adapted well to human intrusion and readily lives in gardens and parks where it is easily seen. The species is sedentary and territorial also exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism; the male in breeding plumage has a striking blue forehead, ear coverts, mantle and tail with a black mask and a black or dark blue throat. Non breeding males are grey/brown in plumage, black/brown legs, bill and area around the eye whereas the female same grey/brown plumage, orange/brown legs, bill and area around the eye with a green/blue tail. All but the very old males - four years of age or more, moult into a brown/grey non-breeding plumage in which they superficially resemble the females this giving the early impression that males were polygamous as the dull-coloured birds were taken for females. Like other fairywrens, the
Superb Blue-wren is notable for several peculiar behavioural characteristics, the birds are socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous, meaning that although they form pairs between one male and one female, each partner will mate with other individuals and even assist in raising the young from such pairings. Male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as a part of a courtship display.
He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be loved by men
William Blake 1757- 1827
It is our pleasure to share with you all our little photographic book
"VIVONNE BAY BLUE".
Dedicated to the Superb Blue-wren from Vivonne Bay ... Kangaroo Island
Canon 7D
Sigma 15-500mm lens
Please come back and visit:
www.wingsandwildlifephotography.com.au
