World Bird Wednesday - Common Suburban Birds

On one of my walks in suburban Melbourne recently, I shot a

few common birds of the area. It is seldom I catch a Sulphur-

crested Cockatoo Cacatua galerita with the crest so visible.

Ubiquitous to our whole continent except the very driest

desert, the Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen, has a voice like

burbling water, also warbles on moonlit nights. It is very

protective of it's nest and will attack passers by in the

breeding season.

Another common bird, the Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus

haematodus, fast flying and hard to catch in the field of a lens.

I was just plain lucky to get this pair in one frame, no points

for guessing which one is the male.

The Common Myna, Acridotheres tristis, looks like big bad

Leroy Brown, meanest man in all the town. A very cheeky

customer and certainly not a kind bird, breeds like rabbits in

an urban environment.

The Noisy Miner, Manorina melanocephala, has also flourished

near human habitation and steals material for its nest, even

unravelling the ends of ropes and tenaciously braking them off

strand by strand or unpicking shade-cloth.

Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, as the name implies,

is very common indeed.

The Piping Shrike, Murray Magpie, Mudlark or Peewit,

Grallina cyanoleuca, is a common sight in Australia and

surrounding islands. Smaller than the Magpie and with a

totally different call, watching over the wetlands sign.

The Red Wattlebird, Anthochaera carunculata, is quite a large

and raucous bird. It seems to have increased it's numbers

greatly in the last ten years, possibly because many more people

have turned to planting native gardens that are less reliant on

water during our recurrent droughts and produce the nectar

bearing flowers they love.

Australian White or Sacred Ibis, Threskiornis molucca, that

I came across in the wetlands near my sister's house.

Spooked by the landing Intermediate Egret, Ardea intermedia,

one of the Ibis took off.

Intermediate Egret in flight . . .

A purple Swamphen, Porphyrio porphyrio, posed for me for

a moment before disappearing amongst the reeds.

Lastly for today, the Spotted Turtle-dove, Streptopelia chinensis,

a pretty little thing that is rather stupid with it's nest building but

it does coo so nicely.

Naturally the 'burbs are full of many more birds but this is all

I bagged in one walk.

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