Saturday 22 September 2012

Birds of Melbourne

Birdwatching is a wonderfully transportable activity. My recent holiday in Melbourne allowed me to spot some interesting birds. Although most were familiar to me. I only had my little point and shoot camera, not Mr Wicker's fancy camera, but still did ok I think.

A family of Australian Wood Ducks (Chenonetta jubata)
enjoying the Treasury Gardens

A female Magpie Lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) collecting mud for nest building. 

Red Wattle Bird (Anthochaera carunculata)
perched on a Gymea Lily

On my search for the 50 Mali statues I found this rather utilitarian looking pigeon keep.


I wondered why it would be there. Turned out to be part of Melbourne's pigeon management strategy. Pigeons are often a problem worldwide of course. In Paris. In Sydney. And in Melbourne.

Quite clever I think, better than trying to poison them or catch them.


Lorikeets appear to have taken over Melbourne CBD in recent years. Their noisy squeakings were everywhere. I didn't remember them as so prominent. Turns out I was right, they've moved back in increasing numbers.

Rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus)

Speckled Dove (Streptopelia Chinensis)
White-plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus penicillatus)
Quite a good bit of biodiversity for a city I think. Of course I haven't shown you sparrows, sea gulls, magpies, or Indian mynas which were also all over the place. 

Saturday Snapshot, is a wonderful weekly meme from at home with books

18 comments:

Brona said...

Happy to see the return of the rainbow lorikeet.
Is that one of the benefits of the pigeon management do you think?

Leslie (Under My Apple Tree) said...

I enjoy seeing birds from other parts of the world.

I didn't think pigeons could be managed. It's a good idea if it works. I wonder how long it will take them to catch on to the artificial egg strategy.

Cipriano said...

These birds are gorgeous. I love the magpie chick the best.
It's like she's saying, "This is NOT a rental! This is all ME!"
This is what Darwin gave me!"

Trish said...

Such pretty birds you have there in Australia! I especially like that rainbow lorikeet.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Birds :D Such diversity.

Paulita said...

Great shots of birds I'll probably never get to see in person. Our zoo has a habitat for lorikeets and people can walk through and feed them. They divebomb my head when I walk through. Here's Mine

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Love the rainbow lorikeet...and the red wattle bird on the lily looks like art.

Thanks for sharing...and here's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST

Alyce said...

Those are all so pretty! That is a creative way to do deal with the pigeon problem. I wonder if it will catch on elsewhere.

Lee said...

Love the last photo.

Ginx Craft said...

Lovely birds, and I kind of like the big pigeon house too. Skyscraper for birds.

Lmkazmierczak said...

Nice captures and interesting pigeon house♫♪

Sim Carter said...

I'm actually a fan of that pigeon keep...I like how it looks. My favorite picture is the one of Red Wattle bird in the lilly. Beautiful!

Sim Carter said...

By the way I blogged about The Eye of the Storm including your warning, also provided a link to your site.
http://www.chapter1-take1.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-eye-of-storm-my-take-on-book.html

Christine Harding said...

What a lovely collection of birds - and the pigeon keep is very eye-catching! http://goo.gl/W9O2Z

gautami tripathy said...

Loved the pictures!

Here is my Saturday Snapshot post!

Susan Lindquist said...

Beautiful birds! Your doves are different from our mourning doves here in the States! So interesting to see how bird varieties differ from continent to continent! Thanks for the treat!

Joy said...

Great bird shots! I've only seen lorikeets at the zoo. I loved learning about the pigeon management project -- hope it works!

Joy's Book Blog

Esme said...

That lorikeet is quite bright. Melbourne is such a fun city-except for its constantly changing weather.