Diamond Doves
Diamond Dove, Adelaide Zoo
The Diamond Dove is one of our smaller doves here in Australia. This beautiful little bird is very popular as an aviary bird as is quite easy to keep in captivity, I believe.
Diamond Doves are found over a large part of the Australian mainland except for southern Western Australia and coastal South Australia and Victoria. It is a bird of the drier parts of the country except it is absent from the very driest desert areas.
This photo was taken through the wire of one of the aviaries at Adelaide Zoo. Sadly, I have not seen this bird in its natural environment, only in aviaries. I must get out birding more often, though to see this species I might have to travel a little as it is not present around where I live. It has been sighted on a few occasions just north of Adelaide.
While I miss not having the Diamond Dove around here, my disappointment is partly compensated by having Peaceful Doves occasionally in our garden.
Good birding.
Related article:
Peaceful Dove, Cleland Wildlife Park
Weird looking honeyeaters
New Holland Honeyeaters in bird bath
We get a great deal of pleasure in watching the wide range of birds in our garden. Their favourite spot would have to be the bird baths. Ours too. I’ve strategically placed the bird baths where we can sit or eat our meals and watch the passing parade of birds visiting for a drink, especially on hot summer days. The list of species we’ve seen visiting the water is long and growing one.
Possibly the most frequent visitors are the resident New Holland Honeyeaters. They tend to come in numbers, sometimes a dozen or more at a time and they are always noisy, especially when they are bathing and not just drinking. Their splashing looks like a mini-sprinkler is sitting on the bath, water spraying everywhere.
A few days ago I captured these endearing shots of several having the time of their lives. Methinks they are in serious need of a hair – er – feather dryer.
I’ve included a few more photos of them below.
Good birding.
Further reading:
- Time for a bath – a list of the species visiting our bird baths
- Great birding moments
- New Holland Honeyeater
- New Holland Honeyeater nest
New Holland Honeyeaters in bird bath
New Holland Honeyeaters in bird bath
New Holland Honeyeaters in bird bath
More Wedge-tailed Eagles
Wedge-tailed Eagle
For over 26 years I’ve kept a month by month list of the birds seen in our garden, on our five acre block or flying overhead. In that time I’ve only recorded Wedge-tailed Eagles on a handful of occasions, despite the fact that they are relatively common and widespread in the region in which I live.
That seems to be changing recently. I saw one flying high over head a few weeks ago – read about it here. Then last Saturday we were entertaining some friends around our swimming pool when another one flew low over our neighbour’s garden. We had good views as it soared back and forth looking for a meal.
My latest sighting was yesterday morning. My wife was walking in our driveway and saw two Wedge-tailed Eagles soaring overhead. This is the first time I can recall seeing two at once over our place. They glided on the thermals for about five minutes before moving out of sight over the nearby hills. I had excellent views through my binoculars, but they were a little too far off for good photos. Instead, I’ve included a photo of a WT Eagle taken during the Free Flight Bird Show at Taronga Zoo in Sydney early last year.
Reflecting on these recent sightings I concluded that there may be a link between the appearance of these birds and rabbits. Until a year or so ago, we never saw any rabbits around here because of a virus. They have now become partially resistant to this virus and are breeding up in large numbers. We have several baby rabbits residing in our garden. This increased breeding has been aided by a much wetter than usual winter and spring last year, and there is still plenty of food available for them.
Now how do I encourage the eagles to visit regularly and partake of these meals on four legs?
Good birding.
Where are the cuckoos?
Pallid Cuckoo, Round Hill, NSW
I’ve recently been busy updating my database of bird sightings. I must admit that while I have been doing my degree over the last three years that the database is sadly out of date. Still, I’m a bit more organised once again and making good progress on catching up on all those sightings.
One of the things that I suddenly realised while adding recent records to the database was the almost complete absence of cuckoos in our garden over the recent spring/summer seasons. Usually we hear them calling incessantly over many days, especially when host species like the honeyeaters are nesting.
The cuckoo species we usually get here here in Murray Bridge South Australia include:
- Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo
- Pallid Cuckoo (see photo above)
- Fan-tailed Cuckoo
- Shining-bronze Cuckoo (once only)
This year I’ve only heard the Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo, and then only a couple of times. Strange.
I don’t think I said or written anything to upset or offend them.
Will have to wait until later this year to see if they come back.
Good birding.
Magpie Lark washing its food
Magpie Lark
In recent weeks we have had a minor locust plague. They weren’t in numbers sufficient to cause us great inconvenience, not like some other rural areas of South Australia in recent months. As they moved in we were delighted to see some of our resident Australian Magpies gorging themselves on this feast.
A few days ago, however, we saw an Australian Magpie Lark catch a locust and bring it to one of our bird baths. We were having lunch at the time and watched fascinated as this bird proceeded to wash its food in the water. I had heard of some birds species doing this, but this was the first time I’d actually witnessed it. Pity the camera wasn’t handy at the time.