My partner was out in the back yard doing some gardening when this little fellow turned up to help. After a few minutes his (or her, I can't tell) friend joined us as well. I think they're both quite young.
http://www.multi.net.nz/fantail/ Fantails are very cute but they're hard to photograph because they never sit still. I've always wanted to get some decent pics of one. I like watching them as they eat insects on the wing - they look like they're completely bonkers as they keep changing direction in mid-air. They're also quite curious. They kept coming within about two feet of me to check me out. They quite often follow people as we tend to disturb the insects around us. They're not really an urban bird (a bit susceptible to cats) but we have a river at the back of our property. Size-wise they're a little bigger than a sparrow. It's not really shown in these photos but their tail looks just like a fan when they expand it out, hence the name. This helps them with their aerial acrobatics. Here's a pic I found that shows it... http://www.whiteherontours.co.nz/piwakawaka.html One day I might actually get one in mid-flight. Dave -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
