Bar-shouldered Dove, Adelaide Zoo aviary
Bar-shouldered Dove, Adelaide Zoo walk-through aviary
The Bar-shouldered Dove is found in eastern and northern Australia. It’s preferred habitats include vegetation near to water, scrubland in sub-topical areas, woodlands, well-treed parks and gardens, along creeks and waterways, gullies, mangroves, swamps and plantations.
Like many doves and pigeons, its nest is a flimsy platform of a few sticks, twigs and grass. It breeds in the months of February to April in the northern parts of its range, and from September to January in the southern parts. It usually lays two eggs.
I’ve only had the delight of seeing this species on one occasion in its natural habitat, and that was many years ago. I was therefore delighted to be able to see it and photograph it in a walk-through aviary at the Adelaide Zoo recently.
Bar-shouldered Dove, Adelaide Zoo, South Australia
Pied Heron
Pied Heron, Adelaide Zoo
Pied Herons are found in the northern parts of Australia, from far north Western Australia through coastal Northern Territory and coastal Queensland. I haven’t had the delight of birding in this part of Australia yet, so I have to rely on zoo collections to get photos of this beautiful species. It is also found in Papua New Guinea and parts of Indonesia.
The preferred habitats of Pied Herons include rivers, mangroves, wetlands, mud flats, lakes and lagoons.
UPDATE: you can now buy the above image on various items, including coffee mugs – just click here. This site also has many other items for sale, including shirts, aprons, placemats, keyrings and much more. Many feature bird photos first shown here on Trevor’s Birding.
Pied Heron, Adelaide Zoo
Neat hairdo, Little Pied Cormorant
Little Pied Cormorant, Adelaide Zoo
Birds sometimes do amusing things. Take this Little Pied Cormorant shown in the photo above. Some would think he has a very neat hairdo. Others might think he’s having a very bad feather day. I think he’s just been for a swim trying to catch his lunch and hasn’t time to rearrange his feathers.
What you can’t see in this photo is the zoo keeper throwing the water birds, the cormorant included, some small fish for their mid-afternoon snack. Below is a photo of him earlier – when his coiffure was just a little neater.
Little Pied Cormorant, Adelaide Zoo
Royal Spoonbill
Royal Spoonbill, Adelaide Zoo
Whenever I go out birding, I delight in seeing spoonbills. My favourite would have to be the Yellow-billed Spoonbill, but I also enjoy seeing the Royal Spoonbill. We only have the two species of spoonbills here in Australia.
Sometimes in the natural environment it is not easy to get up very close to the birds like I’ve managed in this series of photos. On this occasion I was photographing a captive bird in a walk-through aviary at the Adelaide Zoo.
The Royal Spoonbill is found throughout Australia where there is suitable habitat, except for the drier areas of South and Western Australia. You may notice in the photos on this post that the bird has a rather prominent plume of feathers coming from its head, prominent yellow marks above the eyes and a small red mark on the forehead. All these indicate breeding plumage; there was a nest in a tree planted in the aviary.
I must say that I’m struck by the yellow mark over the eyes; it gives the bird something of an evil look!
Further reading:
Royal Spoonbill, Adelaide Zoo
Royal Spoonbill, Adelaide Zoo
Royal Spoonbill, Adelaide Zoo
Eclectus Parrot
Eclectus Parrot (male), Adelaide Zoo
Australia has many beautiful parrots. One of the more intriguing – and beautiful – would have to be the Eclectus Parrot, shown in the photos on this post. This is a species I have yet to see in the natural environment which is not surprising seeing it is found in remote locations in far north Queensland, a state I am yet to visit.
The beautiful plumage on this large parrot is interesting because the male (shown above) is not as outstanding as the female (see below). This is unusual in the bird kingdom because most male birds are more colourful than females, but only where there is dimorphism. This means that the male and female plumage is different. Of course, many species display no dimorphism; male and female are identical.
Forget about the scientific explanations: I think the male looks rather neat in green. They both look stunning with such pure and startling colours.
I must attempt to get to northern Queensland soon as see them “at home.”
Further reading:
- Parrots -more articles from the archives of this site
- Eclectus Parrots at Adelaide Zoo
Eclectus Parrot (male), Adelaide Zoo
Eclectus Parrot (male), Adelaide Zoo
Eclectus Parrot (female) Adelaide Zoo