Red-capped Robin and Hooded robin female - I think
Caught these shots down the back paddock this afternoon. I knew the Red-capped Robin was about and lay on the ground near a Golden Wattle waiting for him to use the perch I'd seen him on before. To hurry him up I use the bird song on my iphones field guide to make a contact call. Sure enough he came along, saw I wasn't a Robin and lost interest. Well, he did some very interesting hovering just the other side of the wattle where I couldn't get the lens onto him. I suspect it was revenge. I think the other one is a female Hooded Robin, but I'm happy to be corrected.
Both are taken with Canon 500D and EF100-400mm F5.6L
Lovely photos Patrick and I like your strategy of using recorded sound to gain their attention! I called out to my wife to come and have a look at the Red-capped Robin and she remarked that he looks a cute little chap!
Thanks everyone! Chris, I use Simpson and Day as a field guide and it's pretty good and I've scoured the net for photos and still find it hard to be sure. I have been told that he's a Jacky Winter however. Hearing of this iphone application was the reason that I finally bit the bullet and bought one.
Patrick-according to the 'Pizzy and Knight' book you have the correct ID for your, red robin.The 'Pizzy and Knight' is very good for ID-although I have never seen them marked down in price-always around$45,but well worth it.
Using bird calls on iphone sounds like a good idea.But I would have no other use for such an item,a 'tablet' may be more useful,I ponder one,but have since found out that 'tablets' cannot operate DSLR and AG.
In the olden days people had cassette recorders with bird calls,and used them like you did.I wonder If could down load bird calls to a MP3 player and connect it to little speakers?
I'm pretty sure you'd find a wealth of mp3 files on the net. What's handy with this application is that it discriminates between contact and alarm calls. Helpful to get the right one!
