hi!
a couple of weeks ago i sat on my veranda (northern rivers region, new south wales) and a very light drizzle of rain had just started. suddenly i saw a moth flying around a trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmin) flower. somehow it all looked a bit strange, and to my total amazement, when i had a very close up look, the moth was in fact a miniture brown colored hummingbird!!
i gave not much thought about it, till my researches revieled that there are no hummingbirds described in australia.
the bird was observed from as close as 30-40cm,
it had brown color and a straight trunk, which it poked from one flower to the other. i had a good look at its head and trunk, and it was WITHOUT DOUBT A HUMMINGBIRD, and not a moth as the sydney museum try's to explain my observation. gee, they must think i am stupid, and not able to distinquish between moth and hummingbird. btw, i cannot recall hearing any sound.
i have some hopes though that some people will believe my observation,
because i found out that, the smallest bird in the world in fact is a hummingbird (mellisuga helenae) and it's native to cuba.
i mean my bird looked exactly like this bird only that it color was brown, and secondly, cuba and australia once where part of gondwana.
i kindly ask for support and ideas,
so i could obtain proof for my observation.
i don't think this ~50-60mm bird will be back soon,
i guess, it visits even that flower only rarely, and would mostly live only in the areas very jungle like overgrown closer to the river...
my only ideas so far are, constant video surveillance of the star jasmin, and placing a big net close to the plant so one could catch it. i took digi cam shots but cannot see much on them, they need processing.
a couple of weeks ago i sat on my veranda (northern rivers region, new south wales) and a very light drizzle of rain had just started. suddenly i saw a moth flying around a trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmin) flower. somehow it all looked a bit strange, and to my total amazement, when i had a very close up look, the moth was in fact a miniture brown colored hummingbird!!
i gave not much thought about it, till my researches revieled that there are no hummingbirds described in australia.
the bird was observed from as close as 30-40cm,
it had brown color and a straight trunk, which it poked from one flower to the other. i had a good look at its head and trunk, and it was WITHOUT DOUBT A HUMMINGBIRD, and not a moth as the sydney museum try's to explain my observation. gee, they must think i am stupid, and not able to distinquish between moth and hummingbird. btw, i cannot recall hearing any sound.
i have some hopes though that some people will believe my observation,
because i found out that, the smallest bird in the world in fact is a hummingbird (mellisuga helenae) and it's native to cuba.
i mean my bird looked exactly like this bird only that it color was brown, and secondly, cuba and australia once where part of gondwana.
i kindly ask for support and ideas,
so i could obtain proof for my observation.
i don't think this ~50-60mm bird will be back soon,
i guess, it visits even that flower only rarely, and would mostly live only in the areas very jungle like overgrown closer to the river...
my only ideas so far are, constant video surveillance of the star jasmin, and placing a big net close to the plant so one could catch it. i took digi cam shots but cannot see much on them, they need processing.