More and still more Peaceful Doves

Peaceful Dove

We have lived in our home now for over 30 years and during that entire time I have kept lists of birds seen. I have done this every month over that period of time. It certainly gives an interesting picture of the bird life in our garden, and on our five-acre block of land surrounding the house.

Peaceful Doves are quite common and widespread in the Murray Bridge, South Australia area where we live. Despite this, we rarely saw this species in our garden until about five years ago. Gradually, they have become more and more frequent visitors. Over the last year, they have become almost daily visitors. I could almost call them a resident bird in our garden, meaning that we see or hear them every day.

Late last year we saw two of them mating and we are sure that they nested somewhere nearby, though we never found the nest. Over recent weeks, we have been seeing up six birds at a time, often near or at our bird baths. I would like to think that this is one family of birds resulting from last year's breeding season.

You can see more photos of Australian birds, and read more about them on another of my sites called Trevor's Birding.

Peaceful Dove

Peaceful Dove

Topsy the Crested Pigeon

Crested Pigeon with extra long feathers

Over the last few months, my wife and I have been amused to see an unusual Crested Pigeon coming almost daily to the bird baths in our garden. We have many Crested Pigeons in our garden and on our five-acre block of land, but this one individual has caught our eye.

We can easily identify this individual due to its extra long feathers in its crest - see the photos to see what I mean. Some of the feathers are almost twice the normal length. I am not sure what has caused this, but we have called this bird "Topsy".

Many people here in South Australia wrongly call this species "Topknot" Pigeons. I grew up calling them this. Only in more recent years have I reverted to the correct and official common name of Crested Pigeon. There are Topknot Pigeons in Australia but this totally different species is confined to the eastern states.

You can read more about Australian birds and see more photos I have taken on my other site Trevor's Birding.

Crested Pigeon with extra long feathers

Crested Pigeon with extra long feathers

Crested Pigeon with extra long feathers

Tree Martins at Pangarinda

Tree Martin, South Australia

Earlier this year we went out to lunch with friends of ours. This was to celebrate my wife's birthday. After a delicious meal in one of our local hotels in Murray Bridge, we drove south for a half hour to the small town of Wellington on the lower reaches of the River Murray.

Just over the river - we had to wait for 20 minutes to cross on the local ferry - we drove the short distance to the Pangarinda Botanic Gardens. This 50-hectare site has been planted up with Australian native plants and my wife enjoys visiting these gardens due to her interest in growing our native plants.

As we were having a cuppa and some birthday cake, we were intrigued by the hundreds of Tree Martins swooping overhead. This is not all that unusual because this is a relatively common species here in South Australia. What puzzled us was the fact that these birds were coming to rest in large numbers in one of the eucalyptus trees near where we were sitting. Then they would all fly off en mass for a few minutes before settling once again in the same tree.

I am puzzled as to what they were actually doing. Perhaps they just wanted a rest for a few minutes. Perhaps there was an abundance of insects to eat on the wing and they didn't need to be constantly flying and swooping. Whatever the reason, it did give me a good chance to capture some photos of this species. Normally I only see them on the wing and it is frustrating trying to get good shots of tiny birds like this while they are flying so quickly, as they do.

Tree Martin, Wellington, South Australia

Tree Martin, Wellington, South Australia