A delightful morning walk

Peaceful Dove, Cleland Wildlife Park

Yesterday my wife and I went for an early morning walk – for the good of our health.

It was a lovely start to the day. A gentle breeze, just cool enough to be pleasant, a few clouds and plenty of birds. I enjoy walking down the track near our home because there is rarely any traffic and the birding is usually good without being spectacular. The occasional special sighting is always a bonus, like the Peaceful Dove heard as we walked along. I didn’t get to see the bird in question but its call is always a delight. (The photo of a Peaceful Dove shown above was taken last year in a walk-through aviary in the Adelaide Hills.)

The walk started out well with a Brown Falcon swooping on some Common Starlings in our orchard. I’m not sure if he caught anything. Along the way we were delighted to see a small flock of about four or five Red-rumped Parrots. Several pairs of Galahs and later a small flock of this beautiful Australian parrot flew overhead. The Common Blackbirds along this road were in full voice, their musical calls another delight. Several small groups of Crested Pigeons lined the power lines along the road, or kept vigil on fencing wires.

The honeyeaters were already hard at work gathering breakfast from whatever trees or bushes were in flower, or where there was an abundance of insects. Red Wattlebirds, White-plumed Honeyeaters and Singing Honeyeaters seemed to be everywhere, many of them adding to the early morning chorus.

The occasional Little Raven flew slowly overhead, calling mournfully as it went. A number of Australian Magpies were kept busy finding food for their recently fledged young who insistently keep begging for food despite being quite able to fend for themselves.

Just where we stopped our walk and turned for home again a family of White-browed Babblers skittered across the road, flying quickly from a bush on one side of the track to another bush on the other side. Their warning calls were unnecessary; we just delight in seeing this species.

An early morning walk like that one is more than just good for the body. It is refreshing and invigorating the the mind and spirit as well as the body.