Spring is on the way

I went for a half hour walk this morning. There was just the right amount of briskness in the air, no wind, no frost and a few foggy early morning clouds off in the distance. I set off just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. I felt good.

I didn’t take my camera but just used my eyes and ears to do some birding as I went along. Just the usual suspects:

• House Sparrows (common)
• Common Starlings (common)
• Australian Magpies (common)
• Magpie Larks (about 6)
• Crested Pigeons (4)
• Spotted Turtledoves (2)
• Red Wattlebirds (common)
• New Holland Honeyeaters (common)
• White-winged Choughs (6)
• Willie Wagtail (2)
• Masked Lapwing (4)
• Galahs (about 20)
• Nankeen Kestrels (2)

The most interesting species was a Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo calling. It is usually about this time of the year, as spring approaches, that the various cuckoos head towards southern Australia for the breeding season. There are also signs of much activity in our garden and surrounding areas indicating that many species are preparing for nesting, or have already started. Just the right conditions for the cuckoos to come in secretly and parasitize the nests of other species.

Good birding.