One of the best things about birding, I think, is that you can do it pretty much anywhere. I currently live in a block of nine flats, surrounded by other blocks of flats, in a suburb almost entirely made up of similar blocks of flats. Which sounds like an unlikely location for birding, but keep an eye out and there are still interesting things to see.
Pied Currawong and Noisy Miner taking a ride on the hills hoist in the backyard
Noisy Miners are one of the more ubiquitous bird species around the city, unfortunately at the expense of many other species due to their aggressive cooperative behaviour.
Juvenile Noisy Miner barely clinging onto the window ledge, probably thinking it would have been sensible to stay in the nest a little longer
Despite their negative reputation, who could help being charmed by this dorky fledgling I came across outside the front door as I was heading out one morning. Balancing precariously on a window ledge while its family members watched on, it seemed to have jumped out of the nest just a little too early and was not very good at getting around.
Noisy Miner chick ponders its next move
Of course it wasn’t long before the chick tumbled off the window ledge. Luckily it was only a ground floor window and chicks bounce pretty well.
Parent or relative keeping a close eye on the chick and on me.
The chick’s family were all around and they didn’t seem too happy about the being chick in such a vulnerable position. One of them swooped my head while snapping its beak at me so I decided to leave them to it. I returned an hour later and the chick had gone, but I could hear a lot of Noisy noise coming from a tree next door so I assumed it had moved itself into a more sensible spot, hopefully to get on with some more growing as quickly as possible.
The Pied Currawong is another villain in urban ecology, as it predates the nests of small birds. Whether it would take a chick as large as the unco Noisy Miner fledgling, I’m not sure, but there are certainly Pied Currawongs raising their own young in the local area – I’ve seen both adults and juveniles in my backyard recently. In the picture below you can see the features of the youngster compared with the adult – brown plumage with light brown tips to the feathers, as well as a yellow gape.
Adult (left) and juvenile (right) Pied Currawongs
Who doesn’t like a bird with shiny purple bits and hot pink feet?
Eye to eye – the pigeon with the dull eye is a juv
Feral pigeons on the other hand, as far as I know, are more of an ecological problem for their impact on humans than on any other species. And secretly, I like pigeons. I think they are quite beautiful, and the variation in their plumage is interesting. There’s a research project looking at why this species shows such diversity in plumage, with a handy guide to the comon plumage types. Looks like this one is a ‘chequered’ type.
Also I learned from this picture that you can pick a juvenile bird by the dull brown eye colour, as adults have bright red/orange eyes.
The list of species most often seen in my backyard also includes Common Mynah and Australian Raven, but surprisingly it’s not all ferals and ubiquitous aggressive species. This is due to the lovely big fig tree next door which has attracted a range of more interesting species, especially as it was fruiting recently.
Beautiful big trees bring birds to our backyards
So far other species I have seen or heard are:
- Common Koel (but not in the last few weeks – I guess they have migrated north by now)
- Channel-billed Cuckoo (ditto)
- Little Corella
- Rainbow Lorikeet
- Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
- Figbird
- Laughing Kookaburra
- Butcherbird sp. (it was a juv and I couldn’t tell if it was Pied or Grey)
Plus a load of fruit-feasting flying foxes waking me up at night.
So 13 species (ish) and counting. Pretty good for out of my flat window. I wonder what will be next?
Sydney Stickybeak 