A Plethora of Pigeons
2 Comments »14th June, 2006; Category: Pigeons and Doves
I was driving past the local flour mill today. Trucks loaded with various grains come from all over the district to unload here, each probably spilling a little grain on the road and the parking bay out the front. As I drove past I was aware of hundreds of Rock Dove (Feral Pigeons) strutting around in a feeding frenzy. Their companions were about a dozen Crested Pigeons, also taking advantage of the bounty. A short distance away about a hundred House Sparrows were also gorging themselves.
This type of scene must be typical of so many similar locations throughout the world. Certain species seem to be able to take advantage of mankind’s excesses, spills and wastage, thriving on our leftovers.
Sparrows by the Bushful
Late this aftenoon I was in the main street of Murray Bridge, my home town. I was waiting to cross the street at the lights. It was almost on sunset, the last rays of the sun just visible. My attention was drawn to a nearby bush, part of the tree and bush plantings along the footpaths.
This bush – I’m not sure what species it was – had a roar of bird twitterings coming from it. Even above the noise of homeward bound traffic, the call was unmistakeable: House Sparrows. And not just a couple. It seemed like there were several hundred sheltering in the single bush, getting ready to settle down to another frosty night.
I didn’t see any birds – just heard them. And around the base of the bush the footpath was painted white with their droppings.
A Visit to Monarto Zoo
We had my wife’s ten year old niece staying with us over the weekend. On the holiday Monday we decided to take her to the local open range zoo at Monarto. This zoo is about a ten minute drive from our home in Murray Bridge, South Australia.
Near the entrance gates I saw two Peaceful Doves sitting on a fence. Two Common Bronzewing Pigeons flew over the road a little further on. As we waited in line to pay at the gate I observed a Red Wattlebird and several Australian Magpies. Thoughout our visit I saw many more magpies. In the car park I saw two Grey Currawongs and Mallee Ringneck Parrot near the Meerkat enclosure.
We only had a ten minute wait before our tour bus left. Unlike some open range zoos where you drive yourself, this zoo has a regular guided bus tour through the park. On busy days like Monday the buses often leave every ten or fifteen minutes. The tour takes about 80 minutes and covers a large part of the zoo property.
During the tour I saw Galahs, Magpie Larks, Masked Lapwings, Willie Wagtails and Little Ravens. Several times we saw flocks of White Winged Choughs. Rocky Gully Creek flows through the middle of the park. For most of the year this is a dry creek bed but seeing we have had some rain recently sections of it have some pools at present. In the largest pool I saw Pacific Black Ducks, Wood Ducks and several Black Fronted Dotterels. Welcome Swallows swoooped low over the water.
After our bus tour we went for a walk along the self-guided walking trail called the Emu Trail. We saw no emus, but had good views of Yellow Rumped Thornbills and a Grey Fantail. Two Adelaide Rosellas flew quickly past and we had fleeting glimpses of a Singing Honeyeater.
There were three highlights of the visit as far as I was concerned. I saw a female Red Capped Robin, a species I hadn’t recorded before in the park. The second was seeing the 30+ playful Painted African Dogs cavorting happily all around the bus. The third highlight was the two new “baby” giraffes, one born two days ago and the other three days ago. At over two metres high at birth “baby” seems almost inappropriate.
John Gould’s Birds of Australia
1 Comment »11th June, 2006; Category: General
To buy the complete set of the seven volumes of the quintessential work on Australian birds would set one back many thousands of Australian dollars – if you can find copies for sale.
John Gould, 1804-1881, one of our earliest ornithologists and a brilliant artist, produced his amazing work called “The Birds of Australia” which has been unavailable to most people until recently. It was first published in 1848.
It is now available to view electronically here. This includes not only scanned copies of all of the text pages, but also all of his wonderful coloured plates. These are fine examples of the exquisite skills of this wonderful artist.
A noisy time
From time to time special events are held on or near the River Murray here at Murray Bridge, South Australia. This weekend is a long weekend with a public holiday on Monday to celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth. That will seem strange to those who do not live in Australia – celebrating the birthday of someone who isn’t an Australian and who rarely visits – but I won’t get into politics on this blog. Stranger, however, is the fact that her birthday is actually in April.
Back to the birds.
Well, actually – back to fewer birds.
This weekend the Water Ski Racing Championships are being held on the river in the centre of town. Exit most of the birds. We live about 5km from the river and we can hear the noisy engines of the speed boats from here.
Oh well, it was too cloudy, cold and miserable to be out birding anyway.