Welcome to July! This month our July calendar star is a Scarlet Honeyeater (Myzomela sanguinolenta). Usually these beauties are high in the tree tops and you may not have seen them but I bet you have heard them calling, especially in the winter months. They have the most beautiful, melodic, sweet call. Have a listen on trusty eBird!
This photo represents a treasured moment for me. Around this time a year ago, my much loved Uncle passed away. I had taken myself off for a walk and he was very much on my mind. I could hear the Scarlet Honeyeaters up high in the trees and hadn’t up to that point been able to take a decent photo of them as they were too far away or too quick. I stood trying to locate where they were when a beautiful male Scarlet Honeyeater landed beside my head in the tree branch and sang. It stayed long enough for me to snap a photo but was too close for the camera and that is why the bird is off centre at an odd angle in the photo. I don’t know if you believe that birds are messengers, but it sure felt like my Uncle sent that bird.
This year the week before my Uncle’s anniversary, I was walking with my Mum through the Wallum near Lake Weyba, Noosa and I heard Scarlet Honeyeaters calling. A dozen of these birds surrounded us in melody and again I knew that it was a sign. For me this beautiful bird has very much become entwined with my Uncle’s memory.
I hope you see or hear a Scarlet Honeyeater in your July!