Meet "Jacky Winter"

I was getting lunch and looked out the window to see a bird sitting on the deck rail - a species I'd not seen before. The little guy didn't hang around long, but flew down to the trees below the house. Stephen was able to get a snap of him, however:

He's a "Jacky Winter" (Microeca fascinans). This is the first one I've seen. He was small - only about five inches from beak to tail - and quick. There was at least two of them darting around the shrubs and smaller trees. I heard the bird chirping, but not enough to be able to describe the song yet. Hopefully they'll be hanging around a bit and I'll be able to become more familiar with them.

Stephen tells me this makes the 30th bird species we've observed here at our house (he keeps a list), and that there are about 130 species known to live in our forest. So... Ok.. only 100 to go, eh?