Well, you know the wet season is fast approaching when the good days are overcast days. Rain was the name of the game today, so I decided my role must surely be in front of the TV watching a good movie. Of course, things didn’t work out that way. Our bedroom window balcony happens to be in the canopy of a couple of Freshwater Mangrove (Barringtonia acutangula) trees that the local birds are quite fond of. I found myself creeping out of the balcony doors with the camera nearly every 10 minutes! This viewing of Three Kings has left me feeling that Iraq has a healthy population of Figbirds (Sphecotheres viridis), Dusky Honeyeaters (Myzomela obscura), Helmeted Friarbirds (Philemon buceroides) and Yellow-bellied Sunbirds (Nectarinia jugularis). Luck being what it is however, the only good photos I managed to snap were of a Helmeted Friarbird which was preening itself nearby and a female Figbird which came with its partner to feed on the fruit of a Solitaire Palm (Ptychosperma elegans) in the back courtyard.
