Photo credit: Robert Dekker (used with permission)
The beautiful Australian fairy-wrens fit their name with absolute perfection. There really is something magical in seeing these tiny little birds flit between the long stalks of yellow-brown grass in the fields, or the low-lying branches of a dead bush, bringing colour and life to what looked dead and barren.
With over a dozen fairy wrens native to Australia, the red-backed fairy wren is the smallest , distinct from the others with it's jet black feathers and bright, crimson-red back - the only fairy-wren with absolutely no blue plumage.
I remember the first time I saw these tiny, beautiful little birds. During our annual family holiday as a child at a little 'farm-stay' not too far from Gympie, I would set my alarm to wake just before dawn, quietly slipping away into the blackness with a small torch illuminating a few steps ahead of me. The sun would slowly made its ascent above the mountains in the distance to lighten the long grass surrounding the little creek snaking down the slope of the hill near our little cabin. With the dawn, as the sunshine coloured the dew drops decorating the foliage around me a breath-taking gold, the distinct call of these tiny birds could be heard as they began to appear. I treasure those memories - the first time I remember actually taking in the beautiful world. With these tiny little creatures adding a drop of crimson colour among the gold of the grass glittering all around me, adding their joyful melody to the myriad of other birds welcoming in another day... there really was no other word for this other than 'magical'.
Years later, these tiny little ones still cause me to stop in my tracks, wondering at the beauty and wonder of the world our God created. Down the dirt road leading to our family farm, surround on either side by yellow-brown grass and the occasional struggling little shrub, their distinct call can be heard welcoming in the dawn. It is such a gift to catch a glimpse of these tiny little ones alighting on a dead branch, or the twisted barbed-wire fence lining the road. This gift from my God is a little reminder that He is there - He, who created and cares for this tiny little creature, cares for me. He, who created this perfect touch of colour and magic among the dead and barren, continues to work in and through this broken world to weave beauty and colour and meaning through our lives. For this reminder - for these tiny little droplets of colour among the dawn - I will forever be thankful.
Note: all watercolour paintings come vacuum sealed and matted
- Framed: 550 x 720 cm (216.54 x 283.46 in)
- Subject Matter: Birdlife
- Collections: Treasures of the Great South Land