With a high pitched series of whistles Mark Eatwell calls to his blue-feathered friends.
The Perth photographer is on the hunt in the hills to the city’s east for one of its avian gems, the splendid fairy-wren (Malurus splendens).
The male splendid fairy-wrens found around Perth boast a fully blue plumage during breeding season, unlike their eastern-state cousins which show more white on their bellies.It’s not long before the first curious wren emerges from the green fortress of a large scarlet bottlebrush (Melaleuca phoenicea).
His breast is a deep cobalt-blue like a lapis lazuli, cheek feathers are electric blue, and black banding around his chest and eyes finishes the outfit.
The male fairy-wren’s coat gleams as though each feather is a shiny piece of metal in a suit of scaled armour.But there’s a secret behind the stunning colouring: the feathers of the species are not truly blue at their pigment level.
The iridescence comes from the structure of the feathers, and how they reflect light so it appears blue.
And there are other factors at play which the human eye cannot see.
Ultraviolet light waves flashing from the wren’s cheeks can’t be seen by humans, but are detectable to a bird’s eye.The spectacular colouring of the males and their curiosity is what first drew in Mr Eatwell, in particular his first encounter with the eldest male of a fairy-wren family group he called “Old Blue”.
“It brought its family out, all its little chicks came out, hopping around my feet and whatnot and sitting on a branch next to me,” he says.
