Crested Pigeons, Botanic Park, Adelaide
8 Comments »13th March, 2010; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, General, Murray Bridge, Pigeons and Doves
Crested Pigeon, Botanic Park, Adelaide
Crested Pigeons are one of my favourite birds. We have a number resident in our garden and they have even nested several times within a few metres of our house. When the breeding season has been successful I have seen up to 35 Crested Pigeons sitting on the power lines running past our property. Elsewhere in Murray Bridge I have even seen about 60 in a loose flock sitting on power lines along the road.
Crested Pigeon, Botanic Park, Adelaide
Crested Pigeons are widespread throughout Australia except for the driest parts of the inland, southern Victoria and they are absent from Tasmania. They are also largely absent from the northern most parts of Australia. This distribution is changing and some Crested Pigeons can be found in the Melbourne region, for example, something that was rare as recent as a decade ago.
Crested Pigeon, Botanic Park, Adelaide
Crested Pigeons are ground feeders and can often be seen feeding in parks in loose flocks numbering in the dozens. This is the case in Botanic Park between the Adelaide Botanic Gardens and the Adelaide Zoo where the photos on this post were taken.
Crested Pigeon, Botanic Park, Adelaide
The birds in these photos were busy displaying to one another, more interested in breeding than in my wife and I having afternoon tea in beautiful park on a lovely spring afternoon.
Further reading:
- Crested Pigeon nesting
- Crested Pigeons by the dozens
- Birds in the garden plus one reptile
- A panic of pigeons
- Crested Pigeons as pet birds (one of my most popular articles)
- A crested Pigeon caught by surprise
Botanic Park, Adelaide
Birds at Adelaide Writers’ Week 2010
Adelaide Writers Week 2010
Last week I attended the 2010 Adelaide Writers’ Week. This popular event is an important feature of the Festival of Arts held here every two years. Writers and readers come from all over Australia and attendees are treated to a large contingent of guest speakers, some Australian but many from overseas, with a sprinkling of local talent. Writers for children are conspicuous by their absence.
This event is spread over six days and is held in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens in the beautiful park-lands of Adelaide, just an easy five minute stroll from the CBD. All sessions are free – except for several evening sessions in the Town Hall. Panel discussions, book launches and meet-the-author sessions are run concurrently in two large marquees set up on the lawn, while a third is the book tent where you can buy the books of guest speakers and get them signed. There is also a catering tent for food and drinks.
Pioneer Women's Memorial Gardens, Adelaide during Writers Week March 2010
While attending three days of this year’s Writers’ Week I was able to position myself during most sessions where I was also able to see out of the tents and observe the passing bird life. Being set in the gardens, and very close to the River Torrens, I was able to get a nice little list of bird seen. Below is an annotated list.
Galah: small groups seen flying over head along the river.
Rainbow Lorikeets: fast flying flocks seen and heard over head and feeding in nearby trees.
Noisy Miner: several heard calling from nearby trees. Interestingly I only saw one bird.
Australian Pelican: two seen gliding low over the river where they presumably landed (the trees obscured my view).
Sulphur-crested Cockatoos: several small flocks of 4-8 flew noisily overhead.
Australian Magpie: two heard carolling in nearby trees and several feeding on nearby lawns.
Silver Gulls: one or two seen often flying over head or along the river.
Australian Wood Duck: flock of about a dozen feeding on the grass within a few metres of the tent, quite unperturbed by the large numbers of people.
Black Swan: One seen sitting on the grass near where I parked the car next to the river (I was lucky enough to get a park each day very close to the venue).
Welcome Swallows: About 5 seen flying over the river.
Crested Pigeon: one seen feeding on the grass near the tents.
Pacific Black Ducks: Two flew between the tents at just over head height, narrowly missing people as they mingled near the Book Tent.
Little Pied Cormorant: one seen flying over the river.
Further reading:
Rainbow Lorikeet
Adelaide Rosellas
Adelaide Rosella
From time to time we have the local Adelaide sub species of the Crimson Rosella in our garden here in Murray Bridge. This morning I observed two of them in the mallee scrub at the back of our house. They were in the company of the resident Mallee Ringneck parrots until they flew off.
Adelaide Rosellas are found in the Mt. Lofty Ranges and mid north of South Australia, as well as suburban Adelaide. The Crimson Rosellas are much brighter in colour (see photo below) while the Adelaide sub species has a washed out orange colouring on the front feathers. Throughout their range there is considerable colour variation in the intensity of the orange.
Here in Murray Bridge, some 75km south east of Adelaide, this species is near the eastern edge of their range. Consequently I only observe them several times a year. Normally I have to go 10-15 kilometres to the west to see them on a regular basis.
Crimson Rosella, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra
Brown-headed Honeyeaters
Brown-headed Honeyeater
Brown-headed Honeyeaters are one of the smallest honeyeaters found in Australia. They are about the size of a House Sparrow and are certainly the smallest honeyeaters in our garden. The White-plumed Honeyeaters are not much bigger.
While I would probably classify this species as a resident species in our garden, they do tend to come and go quite frequently. We see or hear them most days, then several days might pass without a sign of them. I guess they tend to have quite large territories around here.
The individual shown in the photo above is unusual. It was alone while feeding at the flower (click on the photo to enlarge the image). Earlier in the day – before I grabbed the camera – several others had been coming to feed on this bloom.
Brown-headed Honeyeaters are quite gregarious. When they come to our bird baths they often come in a small flock of 10 – 15 all crowding around looking for a drink. When it is bath time, they will often line up on a nearby branch and wait their turn to have a dip. I guess that they are very polite birds.
One thirsty parrot
6 Comments »11th February, 2010; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Parrots and Lorikeets, Photos
Mallee Ringneck Parrot
This week I’ve migrated from my office to our sun room because of the heat. The office isn’t air conditioned and the sun room is lovely.
This gives me the opportunity to keep an eye on several of our bird baths. During the hot weather the bird baths play an important role in attracting bird life to our garden.
Yesterday I had excellent views of one of our resident Mallee Ringneck parrots. It had come in to have a good drink. This one didn’t have a bath as they sometimes do. Quite a few species really start splashing the water everywhere, just like a mini-sprinkler. Don’t they know we have strict watering restrictions here in South Australia?
Related articles:
- Thirsty times for the birds
- Time for a bath – includes a complete list of birds that have visited our bird bath – and some animals too.