Female bellbird

The track down from the Arthur Hut to the Flora Hut includes an exposed scrubby bit, and it was quite a surprise to see this bellbird (Anthornis melanura melanura) feeding here, as usually they’re seen in the forest canopy. This is a female, you can tell from the colours and from the pale stripe running from the bottom of her bill over her cheek. She’s caught herself something leggy: you can see the legs sticking out from her beak. The female bellbird lacks the vivid green-yellow colouring of the male, and from this angle, there’s no green on her at all. She may have chicks nearby, as bellbirds chicks are raised on a diet made up mostly of insects. Adults mainly feed on nectar and fruits, and you can understand, maybe, why they feed the chicks insects: imagine filling your mouth with nectar and keeping it there while flying back to the nest… Ooops, kids, no food, it slipped down my throat.