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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