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Chestnut-breasted manakin        Images © Mark A. Chappell

Australia has a wealth of finches; most are small seed-feeders.   This is the chestnut-breasted manakin, found across much of the north of the continent.   Most of these were in Darwin, in the Northern Territory.   To the east in Kakadu Park there were long-tailed, crimson, and double-barred finches drinking from a small puddle; the insanely bright Gouldian finch, although increasingly rare, also occurs in this region.   Some of these birds were in far north Queensland.

  • Canon 1D4 or 7D2; 500 mm IS lens plus 2X converter or 800 mm IS lens plus 1.4X extender, fill-in flash (2009, 2015)