Crimson Chats near Manilla!

Before I embark on relating to you this amazing finding let me preface this post with this statement: I was keen to get a few photos to prove the identity of the birds but the quality of the pictures is less than I would like. But I will proceed to show them anyway! I hope you don't mind!

It was Sunday morning just gone; I had a mountain of tasks around the house, so our routine Sunday morning bird outing was time-limited. I set it at 1.5hrs. I had no idea where I should go, and was a bit unmotivated to go far from home. So I choose Hall's Creek Rd, and decided to try and make it fun for my 4 year old in the back seat. The first track we deviated on was but only a lane so we turned around and at his prompting ventured across the other side of the road. Although semi-interesting, it was overly farmed and cleared country that seemed devoid of interesting birds, until.....

The reason I stopped: a Diamond Dove!

Around a slight bend and a small dove flew off the road and landed just a little up further. Instantly I hoped for a Diamond Dove, liked I hope nearly every time I see a small dove. I pulled the car to the side of the dirt road and said to my son, "I'll just have a quick look." And this time I was right! DIAMOND DOVE!!! I was just getting excited for this find when my eye caught sight of a red bird on the opposite side of the road. I focused there and exclaimed "CRIMSON CHAT!!!" Isaiah had no idea what either species were, but by my tone he knew I was very excited. So he hoped out too and we shared the binoculars for a minute enjoying the birds.

Then I thought I had better get some pictures as the skeptics may not believe these records. Both species are very unusual in this region, but the Chats more so. They occasionally make it into central western parts of New South Wales, but only rarely into the eastern areas. There were a few records around the Capertee area and even closer into Sydney back in 2008, but no eBird records at all around the Tamworth region.

After two distant pictures of the Diamond Dove as it strode away from us I relocated the Crimson Chat. Now it was sitting on a fence post; surely I could get a decent picture of it there! But I had to zoom in fully onto digital zoom so the quality is rather poor; but the bird is spectacular!

Male Crimson Chat waiting for me to take his photo. The female is obscured by grasses on the wire below the male.

On the fence, still waiting for me to find the focus button!!!

The owner of the surrounding property then raced over to us on his motorbike, and the birds disappeared. We talked for a few minutes, I showed him the pictures and told him how rare the birds were, and he returned to muster some cattle. But where were those Chats???

After a few minutes I heard them up the road. I got a few more photos, and a couple of short videos too! Isaiah eventually went back and waited patiently in the car, probably due to the intermittent showers of rain. After enjoying the pair for awhile I left them be. They were feeding along the road, which I had to drive on my exit. They flushed, flying high into the sky until I lost them. It is a large area that looked similar, so I hope they are still there, somewhere!

Female Crimson Chat eating on the road.

Male Crimson Chat feeding on the roads edge like when I first seen him.

Female Crimson Chat, well camouflaged in the middle of the road!

Female Crimson Chat, feeding in middle of the road.