Birdz in the Hood

 

I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy watching and identifying birds we encounter along our way. I didn't think we'd see any new birds just here in the marina, but we've been able to tick off two more new bird sightings on our bird list in the last week just walking down the dock. Of course, my memory is so bad after a year away, they're pretty much all new to me.

On land near the condos that surround us, there are the usual sparrows, swallows, blackbirds, mynas, pigeons and doves that seem to be ubiquitous, irrespective of our location. The Australian magpies, though they can be pests, have an interesting, complicated song and they're very vocal from the tops of masts in the early morning. Give a listen.

I've already mentioned the silver gulls that inundate the docks on a regular basis, but I never mentioned the singular pied cormorant (they call them shags here) that regularly sits at the end of the dock sometimes alone, but more frequently amongst the chattering gulls. He seems to have no issues being the only one of his kind there. He's obviously quite self-confident and doesn't let the noisy gulls bother him in the least.

I haven't seen Australian pelicans here in the marina, but we've seen them when we cross the river on the way to Port Adelaide, as well as several waders like ibis and egrets.

There's a small family of hoary-headed grebes that cruise around the marina and usually spend time in the empty berth beside us, when it's not full of moon jellies. Though we've seen grebes before, a further check in our bird book confirmed that this particular species was new for us.

We also spotted a Nankeen night heron aka rufous night heron the other day sitting on the dock rail watching a fisherman. The second new species sighting this week.

Depending upon the time of day we walk to the supermarket, little corellas, white and raucous, are in great numbers. The distinctive-looking grey and pink galahs are always enjoyable to see and they seem to congregate in the vacant fields en route to the train station and near the golf course.

We're anxious to get out more into the countryside to see what we can see, but for the moment we're content with the birdz in the hood.