Chestnut-rumped Heathwren (1/3)

PASSERIFORMES: Acanthizidae

Hylacola pyrrhopygia  

My strategy for photographing Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens has been to quietly wait in a spot where I've seen one before and hope for a visit. It's not a bird you can sneak up on, moving, as it does, close to the ground in thick vegetation with plenty of leaf litter noisily advertising your position if you move.

On this occasion the strategy paid off with good views of this elusive little bird hunting around for food and catching a moth. It didn't appear to be disturbed by the sound of my camera as I took several photos, appearing only to look with curiosity towards the bushes in my direction, and then continue hunting.

And then for no reason that I could determine at the time it didn't continue foraging but departed. Two minutes later I got drenched by a deluge of small hail followed by rain then more hail with wind squalls for good measure, and me wearing only a T-shirt which I also needed to use to protect my camera.

Once again, being "bird brained" would have been flattering to my intelligence. Oh well, it was worth the drenching to be able to watch such a beautiful and elusive little creature for a few minutes.