Juvenile brown cuckoo dove?

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birdie
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Juvenile brown cuckoo dove?

I found this little beauty on the fence near my office today, and Mum or dad was nearby in the trees.
I'm thinking it is a young Brown cuckoo dove. the tail was quite long and it fluttered from post to post instead of taking flight and disappearing.

birdie
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sorry forgot this one

Sunshine Coast Queensland

ed
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yes, looks like it is.

Ed Townsville NQ

birdie
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I have never seen one before. Are they common?
It was a lovely looking bird close up.

Sunshine Coast Queensland

magpie
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Common where their habitat is still intact, otherwise rarely seen. That's been my experience with these birds.

ed
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Not that common here in Townsville, more so a bit to the north, I sometimes see them once or twice a year out on the Towncommon. This one turned up in may garden in May 06 after a cyclone had flattened the rain-forests around Innisfail a couple of years back. (Winifred I think).

and not very often you get two firsts for the garden on the same day but he had this Wompoo with him..

Ed Townsville NQ

birdie
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Beautiful Wampoo Ed. Re my brown cuckoo dove, I notice the eye ring is not pale blue like yours and the others I saw when I was looking him up. Is that because he is a juvenile?
Do they have trouble flying when they are young, as it was not really trying to get away from me and I was quite close. it just hopped from post to post on our fence. The parent could easily be mistaken for a pheasant coucal from a distance as it was near the ground and had the same sort of movement when it hid in the trees.

Sunshine Coast Queensland

ed
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I think the male has the blue eye ring, yours looks like a young female, they are not shy and will allow a close approach...sometimes...mostly when you have not got the camera....:-)

Ed Townsville NQ

birdie
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Thanks Ed

Actually it was fortunate that I had the camera as I had run outside after hearing the calls of the black cockies, and just couldn't get the camera together enough to catch them flying overhead. So I was a bit disappointed after missing at least 3 opportunities with them in 10 minutes. One of our residents was just returning from a stroll up the road and told me to go and check out the bird on the fence, they said don't worry it won't fly as it let them approach, and the parent was nearby then. They were indeed right and I had a good chance to both look closely at it and get a few photos.
They may have been flushed out of neighbouring bushland because of extensive flooding the day before. We've had heaps of rain.
it sounds silly but I have only just discovered that virtually all the treed land nearby is part of a National Park, so that is where I need to look for more birdlife I guess,

;'d

Sunshine Coast Queensland

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