Leaving the house to go birdwatching during social isolation is rather difficult to manage, as it is hardly an essential service. The only way is to combine it with exercise, which means, getting reacquainted with the streets in your suburb.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This is a quite different proposition from my normal routine of getting in the car and driving to a birding spot, where I would normally spend the entire morning.
It was surprising, then to find such a variety of bird life present in my urban environment.
Many of my local birds are not native to Australia and were introduced by early European settlers who wanted a reminder of their homeland.
Related content:
Even though these introduced species have been present in the environment, in some cases, for over 200 years, they are still not able to be released back into the environment if taken into care.
One of these introduced species is the Spotted Dove, also known as Indian Turtledove and they live and nest in my garden. They are a very pretty bird and one of the worst nest builders in the bird world. They build a scanty platform of twigs, which readily falls apart in windy weather, spilling the contents onto the ground.
There is a flock of about 20 birds that visit my back garden regularly.
Red Wattle birds are also common and are particularly fond of Bottle Brush and other native flowering shrubs. This week, a flock of silvereyes were busily catching insects in the Crepe Myrtle trees and a group of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos were enjoying the seed in the Plane Tree on the corner.
I also discovered that Lorn is on a flight path for the honeyeater migration and I spent an enjoyable 20 mins watching groups of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and Friar Birds, heading north.
Nankeen Kestrels and a Whistling Kite were also evident recently, quite possibly drawn to the easy pickings provided by the migrating honeyeaters.
Loudly screeching Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and a constant fly-by of Rainbow Lorikeets and Galahs are a daily occurrence. Not to forget the Australian Magpies and Magpie-Larks - also known as peewees - that are on every lawn in the neighbourhood. Our resident White-Faced Heron, commonly seen sitting on the chimney pots of local houses, also appeared.
So, as you can see, birdwatching is an interesting pastime wherever you might be, even in social isolation. I am looking forward, however, to moving further afield in due course.