Common Starlings
Common Starling
The introduced bird species, Common Starling, is very common in our district, including our garden. They are also very common throughout south-eastern Australia, sometimes forming flocks numbering in the thousands.
They are a much maligned bird – and with good reason. We certainly don’t like the way they feast on the fruit in our orchard and they certainly foul up tree hollows when nesting, making the hollows most unattractive to native species.
They also have an uncanny knack of being able to imitate other birds. More than once I have been over excited about hearing an unusual call in the garden, only to realise that a starling is responsible. One of our resident starlings is able to very cleverly imitate a chook (chicken) cackling. Years ago we even had one around that was able to imitate the outside bell of a telephone, something it had learned from a nearby factory.
There is one redeeming feature of this species. At certain times of the year they do take on a very colourful, shimmering, iridescent array of colours, as shown in the birds featured in the photos today. (Hint: click on the photos to enlarge the image.)
Common Starling
Rock Doves, Laratinga Wetlands
Rock Dove, Laratinga Wetlands, South Australia
Feral Pigeons – also called Rock Doves – are an introduced species of bird in Australia. In fact, they have been introduced to most of the world. I haven’t been to many overseas cities but I am aware that this dove is very common in most urban areas of the world. They are certainly very common in cities and town throughout much of Australia, and their range is constantly growing.
Along some coastal areas here in South Australia they breed in large numbers – often in the 1000s – along the coastal cliffs. Town and city buildings also play host to hundreds of birds and can cause severe problems with their droppings.
This small group of about a half dozen appear to have taken up residence in this large eucalyptus tree in the Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker, South Australia. The only place they could be nesting is in the many hollows in the large trees. In this way they are are pest species, taking up hollows that would otherwise be used by parrots, owls and animals like possums.
Rock Dove, Laratinga Wetlands, South Australia