Pigeons and Doves from around Australia (in no real taxonomic order)

GENUS COLUMBA

Three species of pigeon in the genus Columba can be found in Australia. One, the white-throated pigeon of Lord Howe Island, is now extinct. The other, the rock pigeon, is an introduced species. Finally, there is the only native Columba species left- the white-headed pigeon.

WHITE-HEADED PIGEON Columba leucomela

ROCK PIGEON Columba livia

TURTLEDOVES

A turtledove is any bird in the genus Streptopelia. There are three species of turtledove in mainland Australia, all introduced. A fourth, the red-collared dove, has been introduced to Christmas Island. The barbary dove, laughing dove and spotted dove are the three species of turtledove on the mainland. By far the commonest and most widespread is the spotted dove. The laughing dove can only be found in south-western Western Australia, while the barbary dove is very rare and the main population is in Alice Springs.

SPOTTED DOVE Streptopelia chinensis

CUCKOO-DOVES
There are three genera of pigeons known as cuckoo-doves. Only one species of cuckoo-dove can be found in Australia- the brown cuckoo-dove from the genus Macropygia. 

BROWN CUCKOO-DOVE Macropygia amboinensis

EMERALD DOVE
There are two species of emerald dove- the common emerald dove and the Stephen's emerald dove. Only the common emerald dove is found in Australia. It has a brown head and brown underparts, as well as emerald green wings. Males have a grey crown. Both species of emerald dove are in the genus Chalcophaps. The common emerald dove can be found all the way from Australia to Sri Lanka, but the Stephen's emerald dove is only found in New Guinea, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands.

BRONZEWING PIGEONS
There are three species of bronzewing pigeon in Australia, all in the genus Phaps. The commonest of these is the common bronzewing. The brush bronzewing is commonest in dry forests and is only found in southern Australia. The rarer flock bronzewing is found in inland Australia and is very nomadic, travelling around the desert in huge flocks.

COMMON BRONZEWING Phaps chalcoptera

CRESTED PIGEON
The crested pigeon is the only bird in the genus Ocyphaps. It has an erect crest and it is very common in its range- it is in fact one of the commonest birds at the school I go to, Essendon North Primary.

CRESTED PIGEON Ocyphaps lophotes

SPINIFEX, SQUATTER AND PARTRIDGE PIGEONS
These three pigeons inhabit northern and inland Australia and are all in the genus Geophaps. 

ROCK-PIGEONS
There are two species of rock-pigeon. The chestnut-quilled rock-pigeon is endemic to Kakadu National Park, while the white-quilled is found in the Kimberly area.

NATIVE DOVES
These three birds are all in the genus Geopelia. The diamond dove is a bird of inland Australia, inhabiting lightly arid areas near water. The bar-shouldered dove is the largest of the three doves and can be found in northern and eastern Australia. The peaceful dove can be found throughout Australia, except for in southern Victoria, Tasmania and south-western Australia. It is closely related to the Indonesian zebra dove.

PEACEFUL DOVE Geopelia placida

WONGA PIGEON
The wonga pigeon is the only bird in the genus Leucosarcia. In most places it is a shy bird that will take flight rather easily. However, at O'Reilly's there are very tame wonga pigeons that will come very close to you. The wonga pigeon is generally found in rainforests and wet eucalypt forests.

WONGA PIGEON Leucosarcia melanoleuca

FRUIT-DOVES

A fruit-dove is any bird in the genus Ptilinopus. These colourful, fruit-eating doves can be found in forests and woodlands in Southeast Asia, Australasia and Oceania. There are about 50 species of fruit-dove- some are threatened and some are already extinct. 3 of these can be found in mainland Australia- the superb, wompoo and rose-crowned fruit-dove.

WOMPOO FRUIT-DOVE Ptilinopus magnificus

GROUND-DOVES
Only one species of ground-dove could be found in Australia- the Norfolk Island Ground-Dove. That bird is now extinct.

IMPERIAL-PIGEONS
One species of imperial-pigeon can be found in mainland Australia regularly- the pied imperial-pigeon. On the Torres Strait Islands, the collared imperial-pigeon can also be seen, and the elegant imperial-pigeon is a rare vagrant to Darwin. The pied imperial pigeon is rather common near the coast in northern Australia, especially in Cairns.

PIED IMPERIAL-PIGEON Ducula bicolor

TOPKNOT PIGEON
The topknot pigeon is the only bird in the genus Lopholaimus. It has grey wings, light greyish underparts, a red bill and a reddish-brown crest. It eats fruit.

NEW ZEALAND PIGEON
Though once found on Norfolk Island, this bird is now extinct on the island, though it is still quite common in New Zealand.

A visit to Phillip Island

Yesterday my family and I all went to Phillip Island, to spend the day at a holiday home some friends of ours owned. I managed to fit some birding into the trip.
When we got to the holiday home, I saw a common blackbird on top of a fence. I told my mother and father where I would like to go. We had a bit of a talk about it and decided that we would all go to the Nobbies Visitor Centre.
For those of you who don't know Phillip Island, the Nobbies are a series of rocky islands and cliffs about 1.5 kilometres away from the Seal Rocks (home to a colony of Australian fur seals). Underneath these cliffs are some rocks where terns and gulls nest along with the occasional black-faced cormorant and sooty oystercatcher. In bad weather the Nobbies can be a good place to watch for sea-going birds. Shy albatrosses, black-browed albatrosses, short-tailed shearwaters and Australian gannets are the most common seabirds.
When we got to the Nobbies the weather was fine (generally a bad sign). We decided we would try our luck anyway. We looked around a bit and saw some silver gulls. Then we walked to the cliff. There is a boardwalk that goes down the cliff. At the top of the cliff, there are two telescopes that provide views of the rocks. Right under the boardwalk, I managed to spot a little penguin.

The penguin

After spotting the penguin, I looked around again. Underneath us were some rocks, and on these rocks were thousands of crested terns, along with a few silver gulls. 

 We walked further along the boardwalk, getting better looks at the birds on the rocks. Eventually, we came to the end of the boardwalk. I spotted several kelp gulls, including two brown juvenile birds, as well as a sooty oystercatcher. I carefully scanned the ocean, but I couldn't see anything.

A kelp gull

We walked back to a spot where the boardwalk split into two boardwalks. My father, my friend Dylan and I went along here and spotted 8 black-faced cormorants with some crested terns.

After eating some barbecued sausages and garlic bread for lunch, we drove down to the Cowes Jetty for a seal-watching cruise. We passed the Nobbies and saw all the birds mentioned before, including one great cormorant. In the stretch of water between Seal Rocks and the Nobbies, I saw some medium-sized, black birds flying around the waves. Short-tailed shearwaters were flying around the boat. Eventually, we got to the Seal Rocks. There were fur seals everywhere- lying on the ground, swimming in the water. We saw crested terns, silver gulls, black-faced cormorants and kelp gulls on the island as well- apparently kelp gulls breed on the rocks. 

Lots and lots of seals

A crested tern with a fish in its mouth

A seal swimming near the boat

A male and female seal

Soon, we had to head back to the holiday home. We quickly got ready and went to a beach nearby. There were huge, red rocks on the beach which I quickly climbed. I didn't see many birds- just 1 silver gull. We got back, got out of our bathers, got in our pyjamas and drove home, happy and satisfied with the great day we had. 

Birding in the Canberra Botanic Gardens

I have just returned from a trip to the Australian capital city, Canberra. While this was mostly a sightseeing trip, I managed to fit in a bit of birding with my father into the trip. So, at about 9.33 am, my dad, my mum, my sister and I travelled to the Australian National Botanic Gardens, to try and spot the gang-gang cockatoo, a bird that was apparently common there.
First we walked up to the Visitor Center and from there we headed to the Cafe. The air was thick with swarms of European Wasps. Among the wasps, on some rocks near a water feature, were 4 Gippsland Water Dragon lizards.

A water dragon

Then we walked to the Cafe, trying to spot the white-winged coughs that often beg for food nearby. We didn't see any coughs, so we walked on to a small pond. There were more water dragons around the pond. We walked further to see a brown, honeyeater-like bird fly into a tree. It looked rather like an adult wattlebird, but we could tell by its face that it was different. Though at first we thought it was a yellow-faced honeyeater, we realised it was just an immature wattlebird. We kept on walking and we decided to split up. Me and my mother went down the Main Track, while my father and sister would go along the Children's Discovery Walk, meeting back at the Cafe. We walked along the thick path, stopping to look for birds. We managed to spot a white-throated treecreeper, a magpie, two grey currawongs, an eastern spinebill, one pied currawong and lots of New Holland honeyeaters, as well as 2 kangaroos. 

                                             A white-throated treecreeper perched on a tree

A grey currawong

Though these were nice birds, we hadn't got the bird we were after- the gang-gang. Just then, we heard some sort of cockatoo call from a tree. It sounded different to the call of any cockatoo I had heard. We looked up into a nearby eucalyptus and . . .

GANG-GANG COCKATOO!

As a nice bonus, when we got back to the Cafe, we saw three white-winged coughs on the lawn next to the Cafe while we had some morning tea.

The Crime

The Suspect

It was a great birding trip.