Of all the beautiful little birds - and there are many - for me the Spotted Pardalote is the most beautiful of all. This was one of about 30 that were all around me in the ironbark saplings last weekend, filling the air with cheerful, piping contact calls and the pprrrp, pprrrp, prrrp of tiny wings, and delightfully curious about me: perching close by (sometimes too close to focus the camera on) and gravely inspecting this strange, upright human creature, first with one eye, then the other.